


Blame It on Your Beats

by MaladaptiveNinjaReturns



Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Explosions, F/M, Fluff, Morning Cuddles, Oral Sex, Sex, Sleepy Cuddles, Smut, Threats of Violence, Vaginal Sex, background scores
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-05
Updated: 2019-02-18
Packaged: 2019-10-05 02:00:36
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 28,254
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17315963
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MaladaptiveNinjaReturns/pseuds/MaladaptiveNinjaReturns
Summary: A brush with the underworld leads you on a run, away from what was supposedly your normal life, with Bucky Barnes. You two do not seem to be in sync as Bucky tries to keep you alive, trying your best not to kill each other. Or that’s what you think you are doing.





	1. Chapter 1

“Are you sure you don’t need glasses?”

“…No.”

“It’s okay if you do. It’s quite common at this age.”

“Shut up, Stark,” Bucky declared through the comms, getting stifled laughs from the other end.

“It’s in another language. I’m not familiar with the Devnagri script,” the soldier murmured as he sifted through the pages in the journal in front of him to find some sort of code to decipher the words alien to him.

“Friday can trans-wait you don’t have a body cam,” Stark was practically talking to himself right now.

Bucky had been sent down on an espionage mission to Brennwood Estate-  home of Eton Brennwood, world’s current strongest business tycoon along with a back-end dealer in arms in the black market along with being an infamous hoarder of the ancient artefacts- to figure out the codes for Eton’s underground lab where he had been keeping scientists to develop a new biotech for some really shady buyers around the world.

Natasha and Bucky had been the only choices amongst the entire team, considering their skills, but the former had already been compromised due to her recent recon on Brennwood where she had played a key role in finding out when and where the businessman was keeping his experiments hidden and his buyers on their toes regarding whatever he was considering of bringing on the table.

“Send us a picture, Bucky,” Natasha’s voice directed him.

Bucky suddenly froze for a moment, his eyes darting towards some unknown void in front of him as his heartbeat accelerated a bit.

“Bucky?” Steve called out for confirmation, making the sergeant reach inside his jacket to take out his phone and stare at it for one elongated, terrifying moment.

“You do know how to take a picture from your phone, right Buck?” Sam asked, his voice dripping in pure mischief, making Bucky curse at the man internally.

Burner phones were so much easier to deal with. _Why did everything have to ‘smart’ now?_ Was his only thought.

He flinched as the screen on his phone lit up with an unknown number asking him to video call.

“Uhh…”

“It’s me,” Tony spoke in his ear, “slide the lock on the screen to accept my call so we can translate the code for you.”

Following his simple and clear-cut instructions, Bucky managed to flip the screen towards the journal on his second try, getting an encouraging cheer from all the Avengers huddled together in the Quinjet around the screen.

“Okay, that’s it,” Tony announced as he shifted in his chair to reveal a tired Pepper enter the study from behind him, “good job Barnes. Let others take care of the rest. Get out of the estate now before they smell out the old man stink and find you.”

“Very funny, Stark,” Bucky mumbled as he ended the call by tapping the red button, a little happy on the inside that his relationship with Tony was making some progress these days.

And just like the silent breeze that was blowing over the trees, not making its presence felt till it had passed by him, leaving him comparatively colder than before, he made his way out of the heavily guarded estate, taking the dark forest trail towards the road about a few miles from the place where he had parked his bike.

He kept getting the updates over the comms, as the team infiltrated Eton’s lab, making his walk back a lot less tiring when Sam was not on his back quipping him about everything he did.

“No guards on level one,” Sam’s voice stated over the comms, “Brennwood better not have hired some ripped scientist to save on security guards. That is one really bad combination right there.”

“Excuse me?” Banner’s questioning voice came from beside Tony. He had clearly taken over from where Tony had been a few moments ago.

“Because they are strong and smart. Not to mention they can make any freaking poison at the turn of their hand, man.”

Bucky forced out a silent laugh.

“Yeah, makes it hard for Sam to jump up to their IQ level with just his fists,” he articulated.

“I have a suit, I can fly over their goddamn IQ and look good while doing it. Shut up, Barnes.”

Tony was watching the progress of the team while convincing Pepper that there was no chance of him missing their dinner date tonight as everything was going smoothly and the team would have all the evidence to put Eton behind bars for a long time.

“Tony,” Pepper enunciated, “don’t promise me things that are sure to turn ugly sooner or later, okay? We can have dinner over here and Bruce can join us-”

Bruce turned in the chair-away from the screen- on the mention of his name, his face filled with berries that he was eating from the bowl Tony had offered him.

“I thought we had a date. Why would Bruce join us on a date? Are-are you breaking up with me?”

Pepper’s expression went blank for a second.

“Seriously?”

“Yeah.”

“Tony, we’ve been married for a year now. I am not breaking up with you,” she sighed.

A monotonous chime over the screen turned everyone’s attention to a signal coming out from the Avenger’s facility.

“Level two clear,” Natasha responded from the other side, her body cam showing no heat signatures on the floor…

Bruce looked at Tony regarding the unknown signal before accepting the call.

“Level three clear,” Steve announced, “guys, I don’t like it.”

Bucky’s pace slowed down a bit before he regained his normal gait.

“I agree with Steve,” Natasha acknowledged, “there’s no one in sight here. Not even the scientists. Tony, did we decipher the text correctly?”

Everyone who was not at Tony’s place at that point paused their movements when they did not get a quick reply from Stark.

“Tony?” Steve spoke next, a hint of worry in his voice that only Bucky could trace.

“Barton,” Clint’s mechanical voice came over the comms, confusing everyone for a second.

“Clint?” Natasha’s voice tried to reaffirm, “I thought you had gone home for the holidays.”

“…I am home for the holidays. Which one of you morons called me? I lost to my son in Mario Kart so whoever it was, better have some good explanation behind this.”

__________

“How can something be so beautiful?”

You exhaled as your eyes took in the beauty of the symbols laying down in front of you- the thick papyrus dating back centuries- making you squirm internally at the luck of not being able to read and preserve one with your own eyes and hands.

“Miss Friday” you called out into the air, a jump in your step, “could you please pull up Miss Dur’s instructions on how to go ahead with the preservation process?”

“Of course, Miss Y/L/N. You can just call me Friday. If you want I can help you out by walking you through Miss Dur’s entire preservation process.”

You chuckled as your hands went into your bag to take out your earphones. “I’ll call you Friday when you call me Y/N. And I’m good with the display though. I want to enjoy a bit of my playlist tonight while working. So, just make sure you I don’t get any messages on my display while I’m working; no matter how important. No hard feelings, my good AI?”

“No hard feelings, Y/N.”

You gave a thumbs up in the air before putting on your earphones and readying the chemicals to wash the papyrus that would help conserve its original content.

Once all the contents were ready, you pressed play and so began the curing process to the surreal beats going about in your head.

It seemed like a passing dream.

A month ago you were studying on an entirely different continent, getting through your second year in college with no perfect plan for the future. A double major in semiotics and cryptography had seemed like a brilliant idea before college when most of the professors didn’t seem like dull creatures keeping an eight am class just so they could spit their misery of leading a sad unhappy life unto you, making you nearly hate the subject you had been looking forward to. Had it not been for a few of your seniors, three to be specific, and one professor- who not only helped you through the entire ordeal, but also made sure you were displaying your untapped talent in different competitions both on and off campus- you were sure you would have quit college a long time ago.

Two weeks earlier you were entered into a competition online by one of your seniors- Lena- where you nearly bypassed your way through some gaming portal’s fictional facility’s security because someone thought it was a brilliant idea to encrypt the entire building’s signal on their personal chart of symbolism. Fortunately for you, when the rest of your opponents were busy comparing smiley faces to emotions, you were looking for the origin- the chart- because no matter how good anyone is, they always will keep a backup of the blueprint any idea was based on.

It was only ten hours later when the local police entered your college dorm to bring you in for questioning did you realise that you had actually been breaking codes for some really bad guys on the dark web, who had been using noobs like you to enter secure facilities- not really fictional- and rob them of whatever sensitive information they had on them. You were to be thrown in prison for aiding some professional invisible lethal forces in bypassing the security to one America’s top 500 companies had it not been for Tony Stark himself taking full responsibility of the situation as well as giving you a full scholarship for your further studies at a college of your choice while interning at Stark labs as well help Scott Lang into making the his security system better- considering you’d broken through his two month’s work in just an hour.

So, here you were, a week later with all your life in your suitcases, living at the Avenger’s facility, working on an old story depicted in symbols- an artefact Stark said he had ‘borrowed from a bad guy who thinks this has some code to something he can use for his evil plans. We have to find the code before him to stop him.’

Bopping your head you swung your hips to Childish Gambino’s Summertime, your fingers worked steadily over the old fabric, making everything the solution touched a hue brighter with the wetness. So engrossed were you in the careful work mixed with a tang of heated music, you never noticed the alarms off around you, the lights everywhere- save the lab that had the power connections of its own, separated from the rest of the facility- shutting down, the backup red lights turning on as two silhouettes came out of the elevator doors from the far corner of the floor towards you.

The track changed, so did your movement, making you swing around to grab the final solution to dry up the fabric before putting it somewhere safe. By the time you were done with the drying agent, the silhouettes came and stood by the glass-walled lab, looking at you with sheer curiosity till you caught their movement from the corner of your eyes and tilted your heads towards them before taking out your earphones.

Two well-built men dressed in combat suits stood outside the lab entrance, one of them giving you a soft smile as he waved his hand at you.

You took out your earphones to acknowledge their presence.

“Can I help you?”

The smiley man scratched his stubble and chuckled at some internal joke while the other one just stood there like a rock.

“Sure, sweetheart,” his husky voice cooed, or rather tried to coo at you, sending a really uncomfortable tickle down your spine, “ ** _what are you listening_**?”

“…Hunnybee.”

“Mh,” he tilted his head, sending his eyes up and down your figure, making you conscious all of a sudden, “you look more of a ‘Filthy’ girl, the Timberlake one.”

“Excuse me?”

“What I mean is you can help us out by handing over that old piece of paper you got working on over there.”

That’s when you noticed the red hue of the emergency lights outside the lab with at least a dozen more men moving about in the darkness, forcing you to turn towards the screen and swipe away to find out Friday’s intrusion alert.

_What in the hell…_

“Well,” the stubble guy asked you gently, his eyebrows and hands raised in question, “what do you say, sweetheart? Help a guy out here.”

You took a step away from their direction, your gloved hands sweeping the dry papyrus away from the table, rolling it and pulling it behind you. “Mr Stark didn’t send you here.”

It was more of a statement than a question, making the guy’s smile falter and his lips twitch, his hands going down in momentary defeat.

“The paper. Yes or no.”

You inched away further, finding your legs walk into Bruce’s desk.

“No,” you stated in the most obvious sense, surprised at your brain’s ability to be so dangerously subtle in a situation that could turn fatal for you.

The stubble guy dipped his head forward, inhaling in a long tiring breath before moving something from his back forward.

A machine gun.

Correction: the situation did just turn fatal for you.

For a second you froze there, your body not being able to decide between the flight or fight response as it saw both the men pull the trigger, your brain waiting for the glass walls to shatter and you to be dead any second, flinching as the bullets came out but dropped or bounced away just as they met the glass, leaving nothing but tiny frosty traces on the transparent surface.

“The lab is under emergency security, Y/N,” Friday’s soothing voice made you jump. “The chances of the breach are it 1.09 per cent.”

“Huh?” was your only response as your eyes didn’t leave the two men cursing the glass before signalling each other to take something else out of their utility belts.

“My security system is being bypassed at the moment, Y/N. If they are successful in doing so, I would not be able to keep them outside the lab anymore. The intruders have already cut off the rest of the facility’s power, making me unable to communicate with Mr Stark on my own.”

The men each took out what looked like spray bottles. The blank-faced man sprayed a string of white foam all over the lower parts of visible glass of the lab- which was practically three sides of the entire area- as the other stood there smiling before taking out a lighter and throwing in the material to create an explosion of fire all around you, making you bend down in fear of everything exploding in your face.

“Ten minutes,” the uncomfortable husky voice came again, “you have ten minutes to come out yourself and hand me that shitty paper before I melt this glass and get it from over your dead body.”

“Tell me,” you announced, never taking your eyes off the man, “tell me how can I help you reach Mr Stark,” making your intentions pretty clear to the man.

 

* * *

The comms Friday had guided you to in Bruce’s desk worked, helping you reach out to Tony Stark- who you prayed was not busy somewhere in some grand event- to help you and the treasured fabric you were holding so close to your heart.

“Who’s this?”

“Oh, thank God!” you finally inhaled, hiding under the desk now, “Mr Stark, it’s me, Y/N.”

“Y/N, I told you to close the lab four hours ago. What are you still doing there?” Stark authoritative yet caring voice came over the comms.

“I-I know but I had to finish the curing tonight and now I am stuck in the lab with two very suspicious guys with guns standing outside the lab, telling me to hand over the Old Word of the Late,” you explained hastily as your voice quivered, “they’ve cut off the power to the facility and are trying to break through the lab security to get it.”

“Chances of lab breach at 10 per cent,” Friday’s voice came over the comms for both you and Stark to hear.

There was a moment of silence on the other end, making you wonder if he had left you for the dead, your mind stabbing itself to stop thinking the worst and making your heart go into cardiac arrest.

“Mr Stark?” you were on the edge of tears.

“I’m here, kid. Is there anyone else still in the building?”

“No, I don’t think so. Melvin, the security guy, made his last round about an hour or so ago. He told me everyone had gone home.”

“Okay.Good. Now I want you to look inside the second desk drawer on the left of Banner’s desk for a blue box. It will have a ring-shaped tracker inside it.” Tony instructs you as precisely as possible, making it easy for you to find it in your first try. “Found it.”

“Good. Wear it so that it activates using your heat signature.”

Without a delay, you shove the duo-chrome band over your finger.

“I can see her. I’m on my way,” comes another voice.

“Okay, good. We’re getting you out of there-”

“N-no, Mr Stark,” you interrupt the man, turning to watch the men looking at their watch and signalling you the time through their fingers, “there are more of them outside-”

“Easy kid. Breathe,” Stark reassured, making you follow his instruction as you took in one good breath and tried to exhale the anxiousness through your mouth, “they didn’t take over my system. Someone on their side was clever enough to make Friday believe there had been a breach. Friday is rebooting the essentials one by one. I already have their numbers on here, alright?”

You nodded.

“O-okay,” you blurted out after a few seconds of realisation.

“Now keep yourself out of the range of their weapons, grab only the essentials and hide till we get to you. How much time do we have?”

You turned to look at the man who signalled his fingers at you again, smiling at you, his emotions reaching his eyes in the most horrifying way.

“Eight minutes.”

“Where are you going to take those, sweetheart?” The filthy man called out as he watched you- from beyond the still burning fire- gather your laptop, phone and bag, rolling the OWL into its tube container. You didn’t feel the need to respond- mostly because your senses were trying to avoid any confrontation from your potential murderer.

“At least give this poor man a word before signing off, sweet thing.”

And suddenly you froze at the hazy familiarity of those words you had heard over the chat during your last shady tournament that nearly put you behind bars, turning to look at the man- his grey eyes looking more haunting in this absurd fire burning in front of him.

It didn’t take him long to register the horror on your face, making you comprehend what you had just given away.

“You were one of them,” he voiced, his eyes going wide, so did his smile, “weren’t you? The noobs we hired for the security breach.”

Not knowing how to respond to that, you ran back with all your stuff to the safety of the only brick wall and desk, your heart nearly in your mouth as your breaths grew erratic.

“You know I’ll find you, sweet thing,” his voice echoed, making you feel a cold chill run through your bones, “and unfortunately I’ll have to kill you now.”

__________

“Whatever you do,” Clint’s grim voice came through the comms, “do not fart while you’re in there.”

“Thanks for the heads-up, Barton,” Bucky mumbled as his bike’s tires screeched to a halt in the soil before he left it on the ground and ran towards the direction of one the hidden passages out of the facility that led straight to the vents of the main building right where you were trapped.

Tapping in the code, he was inside the cooling system controls, watching the tracker beep on his watch, telling him your position.

“How much time do I have?”

“Four minutes Barnes,” Bruce answered, “it seems like they’re trying to weaken the impenetrable glass. W-wait, hold on-”

Bucky was already inside the shaft that was as tall and wide as him, rerunning Clint’s direction to the lab in his mind.

“James,” Tony’s solid voice spoke over the comms, “you have to hurry.”

“I _am_ hurrying,” Bucky asserted.

“The man standing outside the lab hired her for the job she almost got destroyed for.”

The layers inside Tony’s words opened up. Bucky realised the gravity of the situation, accelerating his pace through the shafts that kept getting smaller with the distance.

“Take a right here and crawl till the second opening. That’s the lab,” Clint instructed the sergeant.

Bucky found the opening and slid it open, his gun ready as he slid down and landed on top of a table that had research papers scattered all over it. The transparent walls were all somehow covered in fire from the ceiling to the floor, huge cracks already developing over the glass.

He turned towards the desk while silently landing on the floor, keeping his huge body mute on his toes as he crouched towards the side, your figure hidden behind it partially coming in his view.

Your back- the usual way he had seen you for the past one week whenever he passed the lab, swinging with your earphones plugged in, listening to heavens know what that made you work while dancing about the entire area of this room- was towards him, making him come for your shoulder.

One moment, Bucky’s hand landed on your exposed cold skin, and another, a searing pain ran through him, sending his body into a red swirl of fireworks.

* * *

_Fuck, I’m going to die here_ , you thought you told yourself internally.

“No, you’re not,” Stark assured you in your ear. “Get behind Banner’s desk. That thing’s practically indestructible even when he hulks out and stay with me on the comms, okay Y/N?”

“I _am_ hiding behind the desk,” you asserted, jumping in your hiding spot as a loud bang followed.

The men outside were spraying some other chemical concoction on the heated glass before testing its current fragility with their huge hammers.

“You’ve got three minutes left sweet thing,” the guy from before shouted, now almost invisible behind the devouring flames. “Too bad, I would have loved to take you out…both ways.”

Between Stark’s instructions and that guy’s threat, you were the one feeling the heat and the chills behind the sturdy metal desk being used as a shield.

A disturbance came from somewhere inside the lab, making you pause your breathing to find the source.

Someone was already inside.

The thumping grew a little louder before it abruptly stopped, bringing back the cracking sound of the glass.

Your hands clenched at the only thing you thought could make an impact on the person- your laptop- making your arms ready for an attack.

Out of nowhere heated touch grew on your shoulder, sending your body in a flurry as your arms swung wildly to hit the person wherever you could, finding yourself hitting Bucky right in the face.

“Oh shi-” your laptop slipped through your fingers as they turned into fists and went near your mouth in strong denial.

A growl left Bucky as he felt the impact making his head turn at the mean swing, his body falling back before he steadied himself on his arm to get through the pain that stung.

“What? What happened?” Stark’s pitch grew a little higher.

“I-I’m so sorry Sergeant Barnes. I thought you were one of the bad guys.”

A deadly silence passed throughout as Bucky looked at you with an irritated glare before realising he was seeing you for the first time, trying to control any action he would take in that pain.

“Did…did you just hit Barnes?” Clint’s voice crackled in your ears.

“Holy shi-” Sam’s elated voice came too, “I want to meet this girl. Barnes, you better keep her alive.”

The sound of the cracks grew louder, making both you and Bucky snap out into the horrid reality of a dozen men waiting to attack you the moment those walls shattered.

Bucky’s blazing blue eyes turned towards you, all the frustration and irritation gone, as he presented his hand to you.

“Come on.”

You swivelled your backpack over your shoulder and took his hand, realising him directing you to smack in the middle of the room that was reflecting the yellow blaze everywhere.

Getting up on the table, your lungs nearly wanted to shout at the man to watch his step as his muddy boots soiled your research work, only to realise there was no point in doing so.

His hands came again for you, catching your arms in their strong grasp as he picked you up and helped you land on the table.

“I’m going to hoist you up into the vents. Start moving towards your right. Clint will guide you,” he stated, his face never even giving a flicker of emotion.

“Wait, what about you?” you heard yourself asking the soldier, watching him crease his brows for a second.

“I’ll be right behind you,” he added, “now come on.”

His hands came for your waist, making your insides flinch at the foreign touch as you tried your level best not to jump and make the soldier question your intentions of ever getting out of here.

You were quite sure you were heavy but Bucky made your weight seem next to nothing as he eased you up into the metal tunnels in one smooth motion.

Clint’s voice directed you through the labyrinth, which seemed to be growing wider by the distance, making it easier for you to stand up and walk- jog, rather- towards whatever exit he was sending you to.

An explosion reverberated through the shafts you’d come out from, making you turn back into the direction for an instant as your feet went cold.

“Keep moving, Y/N. You are almost there,” Clint’s dad-voice came over the comms, “that was nothing you should be worried about.”

“But sergeant Barnes?!” you nearly shouted.

The crackle of the distorted signal was the only thing you heard from the other side, making you think of all the worst scenarios- nothing ever being worse than imagining the person who was sent to rescue you to be taken down because of you.

“Kid,” Tony muttered after a few seconds in a quiet tone, making your dreadful thoughts seem not that far from reality.

“I’m here,” his husky voice came over the comms, “keep moving. I’m right behind you.”

__________

“Is that water? Do I hear water? I think I hear water.”

“Aren’t you talkative today. How’re you feeling, kid?”

“A man just told me he’d love to take me out both ways. How do you think I should be feeling?”

You tried to snap back at Clint but all it came out as was a shivering squeak while you jogged through the tunnels, keeping your ears open for any movement that was alien to you.

“No one’s taking you out anywhere except Barnes and these tunnels,” he articulated.

“How romantic,” you muttered, “I’m at the split, Clint. Where to next?”

“Follow the water’s sound. It’s coming from the right-”

“The right.” You walked down the path, the only thing lighting up the tunnel being your phone’s torchlight.

“How do you know all of these tunnels?” you wondered out loud, getting a groan and curses by other people on the line, to your utter surprise.

“He’s been pranking us using vents since ages,” Tony responded, “he practically lives there.”

A laugh broke out of you, astonishing not only you but the Avengers as well. “Are you serious?”

“You have no idea,” Natasha disclosed, “how we have lived with this bird crawling through the vents and coming at you with anything you can and cannot imagine.”

Your chest felt a little lighter on hearing Clint argue with Natasha while everyone laughed or had something of their own to add, helping you walk with a light step towards the end, which was a hatch to the other side.

_Seems like we’re out of danger now._

Placing the phone down, you turned the wheel with whatever strength you had left, opening it with a loud creak, jumping into a little victory dance, picking up your phone and stepping outside. The crisp air touching your lungs felt good.

For an instant.

All the positive rush you had felt a few moments ago slowly receded as your eyes adjusted to the view, calculated the scheme of events and felt your blood rush out of your head and limbs as you realised what you had been heading for all this time.

“No.” it came out as a whisper at first.

“Hmm? What is it?” Natasha asked with a light in her voice.

“No,” you repeated, a little louder this time.

“Wha-”

“No, Clint, no. I am not doing this.” You were shaking your head vigorously for some spectator out there as your fingers clenched the edge of the rock behind you.

“Not doing what, kid?” Clint sounded so oblivious to something you were staring at, making you scoff and clench your teeth.

“I am NOT,” you announced, your voice echoing in the cave around you, looking questioningly at the forty feet drop, “going to jump into that lake.”

“Y/N, that’s the only way out.”

You huffed, stepping back inside the tunnel, “Yeah, well I guess I’d rather die by bullets then.”

A repeated stomp through the other side increased and you saw a familiar shadow running towards you, the tunnels behind him lighting up for some reason.

“Get out!” Bucky shouted in your direction.

“No!” you shouted back, “I am not jump-”

“Do you have a death wish?” Bucky skid to a halt near you as he took your arm in his strong grip and pushed you out of the tunnel.

“Does it look like I’m being given options where I can survive?” You tried to break your arm through his rock-solid hold but failed miserably, only flailing your limbs wildly in all directions.

“They are coming so you better jump-”

“Oh, for the love of-I don’t know how to swim, you dolt!” you declared, taking both you and Bucky by surprise.

The haunting wind whispering through the caves around you playing with his hair, teasing it as he looked at you with an expression you were not able to read so well.

“Y/N-”

“How did you get here? Not by the lake, that’s for sure!” You quipped, your eyes getting moist as your heartbeat quickened at the sounds of threatening footsteps and voice behind you.

“Y/N, you two are surrounded there’s no-”

“I got this, Sam,” Bucky claimed, turning himself towards you, taking in a lungful as his piercing yet soft gaze met yours- which was terrified to the core.

“Y/N-”

“James I don’t know how to swim. I am not jumping down to death,” you whispered, trying to stretch the gravity of your situation to the man standing in front of you.

“Alright, fine. Then let’s switch the tunnels and find another way out. I promise you I’ll get you out of here.”

There seemed to be no lie in his eyes as he spoke the last sentence. You nodded and turned back to step into the tunnel, feeling Bucky’s strong arm graze by your stomach, his hold tightening around your waist. He never gave you time to assimilate as he picked you and jumped down, making you scream out his name and clench on to his body for your dear life.

“Take in one huge breath and stay calm when you hit the water,” you heard him whisper in your ear through your hair flailing wildly everywhere, positioning you on his chest as he took out his gun to aim at the figure that now stood at the top, aiming his machine gun at the two of you.

A shot through Bucky’s barrel made you wrap your arms tighter around his frame, take in a lungful of breath and close your eyes as the liquid surface seemed to get closer to you, bracing yourself for the impact, telling your brain to stay calm just like he had ordered.

The figure standing on top watched you two go down with a resonating splash, letting his rifle go from his hold as he kept staring for at the ripples, waiting for your figure to turn up above the water.

“Dexter,” the expressionless guy came over, “the facility’s been taken back. We have to get out. Boss wants to know the status.” He handed over his phone to Dexter and moved back as a rumble began somewhere inside the caves.

“I have seen the package,” Dexter went straight to business as soon as he put the device to his ear, “I’ll have the location within twenty-four hours and the package will be in your care within next seventy-two hours. Yes, boss, all the hurdles will be taken care of.”

He turned inside the tunnel as the first explosion killed the rocks above him, forcing the cave to collapse on itself. “Don’t you worry, boss.”

He closed the hatch with a soft smile gracing his lips and walked in the other direction, his partner sending the casualty report of their crew that got taken down in the explosion inside the main building.

“I will take care of the girl myself.”


	2. Chapter 2

The golden glitters of the lazy, heated sun teased parts of your body, letting the warmth work its way through your hair and into the scalp, caressing it, letting the tied up knots inside you loosen a bit in its presence. On the other hand, the wind teased all the warmed up parts of you, nudging at the heat till it could no longer stand the cold bully and scuttled away, leaving you frosty and curled up.

While it all happened- the sun and the wind exploiting you like a public playground where they could toss up and dig out whatever they wanted- your mind flickered with the images of last night.

The eerie smile, the haunting fire, a growl, the dark tunnels, the strong grip forcing you down the drop, your scream, the impact with the water, the ache in your lungs at the loss of air, the drag of water on your face as you held on to your only hope of rescue, the gush of water down your lungs as your body could no longer take the ache, the swaying lights of the surface, the increasing darkness as you felt your body float- go towards the light as The Other Side by David Gray played inside your head- the sound of someone calling your name, the returning ache inside your lungs at the increasing pressure on your chest, the regurgitating water that you threw out before your coughing fit, the blue eyes peeking through dense wet dark hair, the warmth of a hand on your cheek, the ‘No, you’re not dead yet’ swirling up and down around you in the drunk dark sky, the hard rocking of a boat, a familiar figure braving the tides with his back to you and thunder cracking through the sky breaking apart almost next to you.

You woke up with a jolt at the memory of the crackling sound, a quivering low scream leaving your throat. The sun blinded you the moment you opened your eyes, trying to make sense of how you got on a boat, travelling in waters you were sure was nowhere near the last place had been trapped inside. The isolated rocks stood in the middle of the copper blue waters spread out till the horizons on every side.

“That’s yer destination ther chap,” you heard a voice behind you, “now get yer lassie and better buy er a change oof clothes if ye don’t want er to fall sick.”

Standing up and turning around to watch who and what was making the human sounds behind you, you felt your head do a sharp twirl of its own- dancing better and giddier than you, for sure- making you fall back down on the hard surface.

A groan and another attempt at trying to stable yourself on your wobbling feet later, you saw the rocky sandy shore in front of you. The cold from your wet clothes was catalysed by the wind blowing from behind you on the little ferry you tried to stand in- that anchored itself on what hardly seemed like a dock- sending an unwelcoming shudder down your spine.

The rocky beach was a view- not something you thought you were going to see when you were counting the time left when you’d be playing Uno with the devil in hell- and if there was anything more interesting than the scenic beauty waiting for you was the figure that came out of the tiny control room.

Bucky’s combat suit- just as wet as yours- stuck to his body just like you had clung to him last night, the thought of you enclosing him sending a warm ripple throughout your being. His hair was combed back by his hand, sticking effortlessly with a smooth shine, making you wonder how different he could look with the presence of water all over him.

_He looks hydrated enough for you, you single, thirsty soul with one long- very long- dry spell._

You knock the little voice off the throne where it sits as you compose yourself and get down before Bucky has a chance to give you a hand- sending a tingle of amusement through him to see you up and about after watching you scream, wail, nearly die, come back, lose consciousness as he dragged your unresponsive body through an entire storm to get here.

“Take care lads,” the man, who you thought must be the owner of the ferry, waved at the two of you before steering away from the shore and making his way ahead- opposite to the direction you’d come from.

Now it was just the two of you and a few birds- squealing either at the site of visitors or food in the ocean- left on the otherwise calm seaside, left to fill nature’s silence.

“Where are we?” You felt the coarseness in your throat for the first time.

_How hard did you wail yesterday?_

_Not hard enough, apparently._

“We are…” Bucky looked around for any audience before turning his glistening blue eyes towards you, “not in the States.”

You raised your brows at the new information, nodding in response.

“Hmm. How long have we been…travelling?”

Bucky’s cautious gaze that was scanning everything around him came back again, his lips wetting the dryness the wind was bringing now and then along with it to tease his pink lips.

“Long and far enough to not be followed in a straight line,” Bucky theorised before taking his satellite phone out of your bag.

“Oh, okay,” you answered, nodding again, “okay. So-”

“So, everything’s fine for now. We can take a breather, contact Stark, plan out where to go next from here and hopef-”

You observed his cursory movements as he started talking, picking up your bag and swinging it over his shoulder, explaining his plan of action while you watched him, the fence of calm keeping you steady crumbling bit by bit till you launched yourself at him with a wild scream, shocking him not only by your sudden attack but also by the strength with which you sent him off balance before he was completely down in the sand.

“What the f-” he tried to shout.

“You sick son of a-a…you traitor!! I _almost_ died because of you!”

You were towering over him, sitting over his hips sending punches raining down on him blindly, not at all caring of the super soldier’s strength as he used minimal force to stop you from hitting him, grunting with the rising frustration.

“Are you serious right now?!” he shouted back at you, blocking your hands with his arms.

“No, I’m felt like reminiscing how I was nearly killed by a creepy man catcalling me and then threatening to kill me and then forced to jump in a bottomless lake by another. DO I LOOK LIKE I’M JOKING?!”

You were a breath apart from his face, fuming, while your hands balled up his shirt in your hands- its wetness seeping through the layer onto your palms- exposing his shoulders at the stretch of the fabric.

A growl left his throat as he caught your hands in his, forcing you to let go of his shirt as he sat up and turned them behind you, locking them in his metal grip while your body was trapped above his bent legs- not giving you much room to wiggle as you were basically sitting over him, the space between him and you minimising as he bent closer towards you, sending your raging heart into a confused flutter.

“We didn’t have the time to argue and find another passage out. Tony had all things ready for any emergency scenario in there, thanks to Clint. And if you hadn’t noticed, I was being chased by assassins who were out for _your_ head.”

The incredibly minimal distance between his face and yours nearly threw you off track.

_Curse those perfect anime blue eyes._

“You think I didn’t know that?” You spat back, forgetting about your nervous heart as you pushed your furious face into his. “How hard would’ve been to not wrestle me head first into water but say-” your expression took a one-eighty, from an outraged to a soft smiling cheerleader within seconds- ‘hey, Y/N, don’t worry, Tony’s got everything covered at the other end of the…water so all you have to do his hold your _freaking breath_!’”

His heated breath burned your exposed skin as his crystal blue looked at you with pure repulsion for a moment, his hold getting a bit stronger for you to handle- something your ego was not ready to show over your features or else it might be taken as a sign of defeat or submission.

_Your flushed body is sitting in his lap with your hands trapped, giving him access to pretty much everything. He can make you squirm by one right twist. You still think you’re not the sub?_

Wow. Your inner voice knew you better than yourself.

_Would you fucking knock it off for a moment?_ you shouted at her, _I am trying to get a point made here!_

Bucky was about to spew a few hot words of his own when a monotonous ring broke you both out of the warm-up verbal spar, making you turn towards the satellite phone half covered in the sand.

Bucky turned back to you, his eyes clearly saying he wasn’t done yet, before his flesh hand went for the device and waited for the caller to speak.

“Am I speaking to the old man who has no concept of survival using technology?” A familiar voice erupted through the speaker, disintegrating all the coals of hate into soils of relief inside you.

“Mr Stark,” you heard your voice before your thoughts.

“Please tell me both of you made it out in one piece,” Stark prayed in a monotone.

Bucky looked at you, loosening his grasp on your hands, his features feeling a change to a veiled relief behind slight irritation.

“We’re fine,” he answered, placing the phone between whatever space was between you and him.

“Barnes, I would not care much about you ignoring to use all the tech kept at your disposal in Clint’s cave but you had someone else’s life hanging by a thread and all you grabbed was a freaking first aid kit.”

This time even you were confused, having no idea what ‘technology’ Stark was talking about.

“Tony I don’t-”

“A submarine, James,” he announced, clearly irritated, stressing on the words again, “Sub…marine.”

All your voices left you to ponder Tony’s words before finally coming back to sit down and stare at the phone in front of you.

This super soldier could have saved the torture your lungs took but chose to drag your drowning ass through the water till you were at the gates of the afterlife.

Inhaling a lungful, you looked at Bucky’s clearly aching face.

“We’re fine, Mr Stark. That’s what matters,” you assured softly before meeting Bucky’s gaze.

Stark didn’t reply, clearly contemplating some thoughts of his own.

“Fine. I can see Barnes has chosen quite the destination for you two for the next week.”

All the softness that had seeped on your faces was kicked away by a confusing jolt.

“Wait,” Bucky straightened under you, making you wonder if he really felt any of your weight on him, “what do you mean?”

Even in the passing wind, you could hear Stark’s deep exhale.

“Right, there’s been a lot of commotion here in the facility. The press is making a huge hue and cry about it. Pepper’s team has been dealing with all of it quite well and she suggests that you two better stay away as long as possible. Y/N, while you’re out there I’d suggest you decipher as much of the iconography as possible so we can take down Eton’s plans before he goes and does something more stupid. And disastrous.”

You nodded at the phone, making Bucky tilt his head in soft amusement.

“Yes,” you blurted out, embarrassed due to the company, “I will.”

“Good, keep me updated. Barnes…”

“I’ll take care of…the rest,” he concluded.

The phone went silent, leaving you two to make a rerun of the conversation that just happened.

“Something’s happened,” you muttered, your hands crossing over your chest and running up and down your arms, “He is hiding something.”

Bucky studied your worry filled eyes staring at the phone for a moment, not oblivious to your shivering arms and the cause behind it.

“I’d worry more about focusing on surviving in another continent without so as a passport if I were you,” he proclaimed, raising his brows at you.

His slow drying strands were starting to fly away in the wind and towards you, nearly tickling your cheeks once or twice.

“It’s like getting out of a fire pit only to land upon an active volcano,” you groaned, trying to push your legs together to get up and away from the Sergeant. Your shivering body was already missing the latent heat. His latent heat.

_Pull me down, if you want to_ , you heard your voice singing, _And I hope that you want to_ , thwacking it away into some dark corner for using your dry spell against you in this situation of all the places.

“Come on,” Bucky got up, dusting off the sand from your bag before swinging it over his back and walking towards the stone-y path that led to higher ground above the sea level, “we better find a place to stay before the locals here start getting suspicious.”

Brushing off the sand from your clothes, you followed him, nodding in mock agreement.

“Sure. Though I’d rather not push them into the water without their consent to stay on their good side. Just a suggestion.”

He rolled his eyes before turning his head towards you to give you one long hard stare.

Both of groaned on the inside, wondering how you two were supposed to bear each other for seven days when the net one hour in each other’s conscious presence was hell to begin with.


	3. Chapter 3

_“Go study some technical shit Y/N. You’ll earn better, Y/N. Why not take something more relevant than these old religious symbols, Y/N. Why are you always digging up the past, Y/N? Go make some friends, Y/N. Is that your boyfriend, Y/N? Are you into girls, Y/N! What happened to your friends, Y/N? Go build up a network at college, Y/N. It’ll be fun Y/N.”_

Your incoherent mumbling filled the air apart from the periodic ocean tides hitting their head with the rocky shores.

“Go fuck yourself, Y/N. We can only do so much from our side, Y/N,” you muttered under your breath kicking stones in your path as you walked behind Bucky to wherever he was leading you.

“Here?”

“Yeah.”

“Are you sure?”

“Mm-hmm.”

“Explain it to me again?”

If the ground could crack on his command, Bucky would’ve let himself be swallowed up half an hour ago.

His clenched jaw was vividly telling you he was in no mood to explain why the two of you were heading to the cosy hotel standing on the- not that high but farther from the shore you’d stepped on- hilltop that overlooked the other side of the shore- one jump from where the estate ended would land you safely on the sand, though you wondered why you thought of it that way. Looking at your new partner for the week, you felt like it was more of a subconscious exercise.

The hotel grounds were nothing if not pure greenery with giant rocks protruding here and there, like a huge game of whack-a-rock that someone stopped playing a long time ago. The trees lined up the entrance and the boundaries of the walkway that was made and aligned with the grey stones, allowing nature to mark the boundaries for itself. The shrubbery on the other side of the low stone wall gave the gardens a well maintained elegant privacy of their own.

The yellow structure in the middle of all the green was a welcoming site; probably also the reason you’d spotted it from far away. It was decorated with red tiles on the sloping roofs, the windows, doors and balconies marking all the sides other than the entrance, letting the visitors enjoy the view this place had to offer.

_Where the heck did he bring me?_

The frustration you’d felt against Bucky had melted an hour ago, thanks to the sun shining directly above you, no longer allowing the wind to bully your shivering body, building up the much-desired warmth after the unwelcoming dampness.

“The place is isolated,” Bucky explained, never stopping to turn and look whether you were behind him or not, making you curse that he had super sensitive hearing and had probably heard your stomach growl ten times now, “away from the city. So not much crowd. More privacy. Near to the shore. So we can make a quick getaway if we want to. Near to the hillside-” he raised his voice a bit- “so I can shove people off the cliff who throw too much shade. Also because there isn’t another place for at least ten miles according to the sailor who gave us a ride.”

You were listening to him, taking in every word by your ears, but your eyes were scanning the few guests of the hotel that were sharing languid moments under the sun. Two men standing by the hillside, breathing in the air coming from the mountains behind them as one wrapped the other in a playful hug. A brunette sitting on a yellow beach chair in khaki shorts and a white tank top with a man dressed in something exactly the same- right down to the shade and fabric- was on a video call with someone, overwhelmingly cheery as she showed the scenery around her to the person on the other end of the phone. Another pair stood facing the beach under a spacious gazebo- two women, a short-haired caucasian wearing the darkest lipstick and an Asian, light and bubbly on her feet, her purple hair playing with the local wind on a beat of its own- taking pictures of the landscape and the rocks all the while giggling amongst themselves.

“I am surprised,” you iterated, not facing away from the sight you were scanning, “that you even know what throwing shade means, I _really_ am. But I don’t think you’ve accounted for all the possible scenarios.”

Your heavy soggy boots tapped on the stones as you two kept moving towards the entrance, your head finally turning towards Bucky when he didn’t bother asking what you were talking about.

“Sergeant,” you whispered, jogging a bit to keep up with his pace, “did you hear what I just said?”

You saw him chuckle for the first time, sending tingles of pure amusement down your limbs. “Of course I heard you.”

That’s it.

You felt the dying embers of irritation being poked at as he looked at you from the corner of his eyes for a passing moment, a light smirk hanging on his lips.

“James, listen to me,” you whispered again, wanting to get his attention towards your own speculation.

He ignored you.

Again.

The embers felt a flicker at another poke.

“Seriously?” You hissed, trying not to grab attention from the guests scattered by your side- who were already eyeing the two of you as if you’d just murdered some puppies and they could smell the guilt all over you- when you came closer to the doors of the cosy mansion that had looked like a tiny house from a distance.

“Listen,” his husky voice whispered near you as he slowed down- but didn’t stop- to let you match his pace, “I think I have enough experience and age over you to know what is and is not safe.”

“I am not questioning your exp-”

“So, try to act normal for a few minutes,” he muttered.

You tried to explain your concerns to him but he was already heading for the reception.

The entrance was wide in front and on top of you- cream tiles gracing your feet while a vintage chandelier hung above your head. The Mediterranean windows ran up the entire length on either side of you- your left adorned in a mauve setting of sofas while your right designed into a lounging area complete with a swinging chair and two oakwood bookcases adorning the walls that enclosed that area. Right in front of you ran a corridor to what you could make out was the back and an elevator to one side.

Bucky walked towards the reception right at the left end of the entrance where a redhead sat playing on his phone, his device crying out at irregular intervals ‘cupcake smash!’

You took the opportunity and the deserted reception to slide the tracker ring off your one finger to another before going ahead and standing by Bucky’s side at the marble counter.

“Hi,” Bucky addressed the receptionist, who responded with just one quick glance at the two of you, not even pausing to register your light handshake and a hint of a smile at him.

You heard a clack of heels coming out of one of the corridors in the mansion, turning to look at a gorgeous, tall, olive-skinned woman with fiery dense auburn curls walking in your direction.

“We’d like to take two rooms, please.” Bucky’s words made the woman squint her eyes at both of you as she came closer.

Your instincts set in like a rushing tidal wave entering a lagoon, wanting to control whatever water had spilt in, making you wrap your hands around Bucky’s shoulder, taking both him and you by surprise.

It wasn’t even two seconds in which he had registered your touch and swung his head towards you at your unaccounted action, his aquamarine eyes questioning you.

“Oh, I don’t think Steve and Nat are coming…honey,” you stated in your softest voice that broke at the last word just like The Caretaker’s song: A Relationship With The Sublime.

Bucky blinked at you, his breath stuck somewhere in that perfect chest.

“Yeah,” you nodded, your brows arching with concern as your arms twisted more around his metal, “Nat told me they’d be here by ten if the weather was nice to them. It’s thirty minutes past twelve now.”

Bucky was still trying to deal with your hold around his metal arm that shone through the black of his shirt when the lady came behind the reception with her warmest smile.

“Sorry to hear about your friends,” her heavy yet soothing voice addressed you, “I’m assuming you two are a couple?”

Bucky’s flushed face did a ‘huh?’ as it turned towards the woman, clearly at a loss of words.

“Because if you’re not, I’m sorry, we’ll have to ask you to leave for this is a couples-only BnB,” she stated.

“Mr and Mrs Barnes,” you announced as you found Bucky being no help for some reason, before pretending to shy into his shoulder as you played with the duochrome band on your ring finger.

_Bless Stark for his aesthetically pleasing tech._

“Oh my Gosh!” a shrill voice came from the same direction the woman had walked out from, “is that a newly married couple!”

Another woman came out of the shadows, dancing rather than walking, her pale face brightly lit with the warmest smile on her face as her fiery red hair curled slightly at the ends below her chest. Her yellow sundress danced around her hips when she made her way towards the two of you.

“Meera! We do have the room for…” the lady turned to look at you with a soft smile.

“Y/N. Y/N…Barnes,” you declared, your insides shuddering at the echo of the name within you before you tilted a bit towards Bucky, “This is James Barnes. My…partner!”

Meera looked at you with a comfortable smile sitting on her thick lips as you brought your hand forward for a shake, making you wonder if that smile was contentment or calculation.

“I’m Louise! This is my wife Meera!” The red-head took your hand and gave it a firm shake, colouring your impressed. “Welcome to our humble lodgings!”

The accent dripping off her pink lips had a hint of European touch like she was used to some other tongue but was quite fluent in English.

“Are you guys on your honeymoon?” She nearly jumped.

“Yes,” you answered.

“No,” Bucky blurted.

_Now he wants to talk!_

_Think, think, think! I swear on the ancient hieroglyphics if you don’t work right now, I’ll sell my soul to some alien who’d love to do experiments on you._

That was…one way to get your brain to work.

And just like that, a lightbulb went off.

“Darling,” you moaned lightly for effects as you brought your opposite hand forward to Bucky’s torso, making him flinch a little under your touch before his flesh hand came and took yours in his with a smile plastered on his face for the audience, “I promise we will travel to Rome just like you wanted. Till then let’s enjoy this vacation as a honeymoon!”

Without waiting for his reply you turned towards Louise.

“This was supposed to be a getaway with his brother and brother’s girlfriend. But they couldn’t make it.”

“Well,” Meera interjected, “in a way, it’s good that they couldn’t. Our hotel has a strict couples policy.”

“Aw, come on, pumpkin!” Louise brushed off her wife’s claim with an arched brow, “I’m sure we could have made room for a couple just in the bloom of their relationship.

_Natasha’s definitely going to enjoy this. Steve? Not so much._

“Zemo! Take their bags to their room,” Meera commanded the guy busy playing Kwazy Cupcakes, who groaned for a length before getting up, looking down at the empty floor, turning to you and Bucky before finally slouching on the marble counter to get back to his game.

“We lost our bags at the airport,” Bucky mentioned before the ladies could speak anything, his fingers moving the ring around in your finger, “There was an issue with the connecting flights and our luggage got sent over to the other country.”

Meera clicked her tongue, making you freeze for a moment, feeling your hands go cold at the thought of her having caught on to something. But Bucky’s reassuring warm fingers pressed against yours, helping your heartbeat calm down a little.

“It was the Hey Air wasn’t it?” She spoke as she turned around to pick a key from the board. “They always do this. Always.”

“Aw?” you let out a sympathetic cry, “Really?”

“Yes, my dear,” Louise nodded with a grim expression, “we have had so many couples over the years with nothing on them but the clothes on their back because that forsaken airline would not do its job correctly. Anyways, come, we have a whole bunch of clothes here at your disposal because we are pretty much always expecting this to happen. You and I are almost the same sizes, Y/N!”

You looked at Lousie’s gorgeous figure and wondered in what world did this Goddess think you were anywhere near her stunning anatomy, following her into the elevator with Bucky right behind you.

“So,” Louise, continued as pressed the button to the first floor and leaned on the golden mirrored wall, “what do you do Mr and Mrs Barnes?”

That name was really sending some weird shivers down your spine as you were trying to persuade a sweet smile to stay on your lips.

“He’s a diving instructor,” you commented, trying to suppress the growing smile and the heated blush, “really good at his job. He tries to take people by surprise. Pushes them beyond…way beyond their comfort level.”

You knew from the cold sparkles running down the left side of your shoulder that Bucky was looking at you, boring his raging gaze at you while you enjoyed the duality of your words in your mind.

“Oh! That’s interesting! Really interesting!” your audience exclaimed.

“And she is a professional runner,” Bucky chimed in, making you jump at his hot touch on the small of your back that pushed you close to him.

“Not professionally, love,” you pretended to correct him trying to hide your fragile senses under the action.

“Right, sorry, doll,” Bucky apologised, “professionally, she is a gravedigger. Once she finds even an ounce of a distortion in the past, she just doesn’t let it go. No matter how small it may seem to the world.”

Louise raised her brows in utter amusement at his words while you were still trying to compose yourself under his touch, his warmth growing up inside you with every passing second, making your stomach feel emotions you never knew could be triggered in there.

“You mean an archaeologist?”

“Historian,” you corrected both of them, bringing your hand towards Bucky torso to have it caught mid-air by his metal. You tried to go back at his torso only to have the grip tighten a little, twisting your fingers into his- and he welcomed the gesture- so as to not make the redhead suspicious of the two of you.

_Two can play this game, Barnes._

The slow strings turning into a full blast of Handmade Ego running around you, first making you think your mind was at it again, teasing you, before you realised it was the elevator song.

“Oh, Mrs Barnes,” Louise pointed at your wrist, her expression growing sullen for a moment, “your wrists.”

Both you and Bucky turned to look at your bruised wrist that rested in Bucky’s hand, making you mentally hide your other one out of Bucky and Lousie’s view but to no avail. Bucky’s hot hand left the small of your back to bring forward the hidden one for inspection, his expression turning into one filled with a veiled ache that only reflected through his eyes.

“Oh, this?” you were quick to interrupt the morbid silence that had suddenly started to creep in. “It happened during the wedding. There’s this tradition of-”

“Wearing bracelets blessed by the high priest for the occasion?” Louise completed your sentence questioningly as a soft smile eroded her lips. “I did that too. Meera and I, we both did.”

For a moment you stood there, silent.

_What in the name of heavens was this woman made of?_

_Everything that could help you in saving your life, I suppose_ , your inner voice spoke with a shrug.

“Yes. Yes, I did.” You nodded with a smile before turning to Bucky with an assured gaze, knowing somewhere inside your heart he would blame himself to have gone so hard on you when it was you who had incited him. The heat from your cheeks radiated under his soft gaze that wanted to know you were alright- actually alright, not just pretending for people.

“I’m fine,” you whispered with a nod and a gentle stroke of your thumb on the back of his palm, making him exhale.

Bucky looked for any little giveaway in your eyes that could tell him otherwise and when he found none, he let go of your hands.

“Bless my eyes,” Louise spoke, her head resting on the reflective wall as she grinned from ear to ear while pressing her hands to her cheeks, “you two are so much in love.”

Now neither of you could resist the laugh.

Fifteen minutes later, you and Bucky were shown to your room on the second floor- the area completely decorated in a hue of yellow that was more soothing than the one outside, lighting up the inside of the Mediterranean setting of the bed that stood by the wall opposite the entrance of the room, two doors leading out to the balconies while a bathroom- with no door, mind you- rested on the only wall that had no doorway.

“See you at dinner, Mr and Mrs Barnes,” Louise cooed as she wiggled her brows at you, making you want to throw up at the thought of what she was implying.

“Please, call us by our first names,” you nearly begged her.

She bowed a little before taking her leave.

Bucky shut the door behind you walked about the room, breathing in the hot but pleasant air, your fingers stroking the old furniture under your tips. 

“How did you know?”

You turned the knob on the old radio, Tender’s Hypnotised setting the mood around you. “I’ve been single long enough to know which places smell of nothing but lovebirds,” you scoffed.

“So,” Bucky’s back pushed the door, making it click close, “diving instructor, huh, Mrs Barnes?”

The air changed around you, making you turn the knob back off. You felt Bucky’s gaze easing on your back, touching your skin to let it feel the goosebumps of curiosity.

“I really need to set some ground rules with you,” he stated, his husky voice marking the air currents in the room along with the strings of your heart.

You felt him come closer, his scorching frame towering from behind you, making you pause your breathing as he bent a little so his face was close to your ears to whisper his words.

“And I don’t think you’re going to like it.”


	4. Chapter 4

“That’s it?”

You looked at Bucky, whose expression did a one-eighty, flashing his features from a smug grin to a blank expression at your very casual response to the statement he just made.

His biceps were waiting to be ripped out of his black shirt as they sat crossed very his chest taking in all the tension you were building up by not giving him the reactions he wanted.

He was about to speak something when you giggled and broke his train of thought.

“Oh, oh, so you thought making me sleep on the couch would…what, bruise my ego or something? Darling, I’ve slept on worse things!”

“Really?” His brows came together in the twist of genuine curiosity as you jumped back on the bed and rested on your shoulder.

“Yeah! Mostly bad relationships though. Actually, any relationship.”

You scrunched your nose and ran your finger through your hair before getting up and picking a sundress Louise had hand selected for you. “Ugh, I’m getting out of these clothes. They smell,” you declared to yourself before picking up a towel from the handy stand right outside the no-door bathroom.

Bucky took a whiff of his clothing, never too discreetly. “No, they don’t,” he stated, plopping down where you had been a few seconds ago.

“Yes, they do,” asserted as you tilted your heads towards him, “they reek of lies and near death experiences…with an ‘s’.”

Bucky rolled his eyes and huffed. “Let it go,” he nearly moaned into the air, tired of being reminded of the same thing repeatedly.

“I will, eventually,” you cooed, before drawing the curtain over the space that was looking straight inside the orange-walled bathroom. “No peaky-peaky, Sergeant.”

“Don’t flatter yourself, doll,” he chided, taking his arms up and behind his head, his legs crossed and swinging lightly. He finally relaxed his muscles, easing the tension bit by bit through every part of his body, letting them loose to breathe in the surroundings for the first time. The sea breeze coming in from the balcony doors you’d left open was welcoming on his skin, letting the air filled with the smell of the salty sea, grass, wine and smoke from burning charcoals play with his hair.

The sound of water spattering over the wooden tiles inside the bathroom grazed by his ears, making the swinging of his legs stop abruptly on their own.

A hum filled the atmosphere next.

_Let’s fall in love for the night and forget in the morning…_

It was more of a honey whisper, a slow, stretched tone from what Bucky could hear as your words bounced across the bathroom walls and leapt over the sound of water.

_Play me a song that you like and I bet I’d know every line…_

Bucky’s chest felt an unknown warmth easing inside it.

_I’m the boy that your boy hopes that you would avoid…_

He never realised the smile that slowly crept on his lips as he heard your voice take a high note.

_Don’t waste your eyes on jealous guys, fuck that noise…_

A new scent filled the air around him; a hint of passion fruit and a dense whiff of strawberries. He waited and waited, turning his head in the direction of the bathroom, eventually raising it up when you didn’t make a sound for an elongated moment.

“Woah! This smells delicious,” you exclaimed, making Bucky realise his heart was beating a bit faster than it normally did for some unknown reason, his veins in the neck pulsating.

_I know better than to ever call you mine._

He laid his head back down and closed his eyes, letting your voice engulf his tired existence, allowing him to float in a world free of bad guys and weapons, evil masterminds and racoons, technology and things that began with ‘smart’, drifting on a boat of a beautiful siesta where he saw you. Your glistening figure floating inside the clear blue sea while he swam towards you. Your Y/H/C hair spreading like a coloured halo unfurling itself around your head as you spoke his name, his arms steadying yours over his, his eyes taking in the sombre expression on your face.

You called him out again. And again.

“Sergeant?”

But he couldn’t move, trying to bring his fingers forward to touch your cheeks in some partial reassurance. Just when he could almost touch you, an uninvited touch broke him out of his nap.

WIthin a flash, Bucky grabbed your hand that had tapped him on his shoulder to wake him up pushing you onto the bed by his metal.

“Hahh!” you nearly squealed, “I was just trying to wake you up. Ow!”

The moment a wince left your mouth, Bucky let go of your hand and moved a few inches away from you, afraid of hurting you unintentionally.

“Please go take a shower,” you pleaded the man as you supported yourself on the bed on your elbows, your wet hair glistening and marring your skin, while your legs half dangled down the bed, catching the sun reflecting from the glass on the doors, stirring something inside Bucky.

“Why-” he pushed the feeling back where it came from- “so you could take the bed?”

“Seriously, Sarge, how old are you?” you squinted your eyes at him. “Of course, I’m taking the bed.”

“You know I can pick you up and throw you over the couch without much effort,” he elaborated, his hands resting on his hips as he stood in front of you, ready to do what he stated at any given moment.

“Make me, Barnes,” you announced, riling up some really rowdy tiny beasts inside you both, and plopped your head back into the bed. Bucky could clearly watch the victory smirk on your face, his eyes travelling down your neck, chest and stomach. “You asked for it,” he threw the words at you as he bent over your figure- his one leg coming over the bed onto your side- to let his hands wrap themselves around your waist but was stopped by the flinch he felt as your fingers poked a very specific point on his torso.

**_“Oh, are you ticklish?”_ **

Your eyes clicked with the most innocent look at him as you tried to keep the outburst of your laugh within your lips by biting down on them while he let out a grunt of surprise.

You teased the spot again, making him jump and slap your hand away before shooting daggers at you.

“Don’t,” he growled, making you almost throw your restrains to the wind.

“Why not?” you asked with sheer curiosity as your hands went up again while you snickered with pure joy.

_What’s he going to do? Throw me back into the water?_

This time you felt a jolt go through your body when his fingers teased you right above your waist, forcing a tiny scream out of you.

“I told you, don’t,” his husky voice sang as his he towered over your alert figure almost curled up into a ball under him.

“No, James, do-”

Your words turned to squeals in the air as he tickled your sensitive spots again, his eyes lighting up with pure playfulness on seeing you squirm and giggle under him.

“This is so much worse than the water. Just take me to the water and I’ll jump in myself! Please! Stop!” you shrieked as your figure writhed under him while he tried his best to stop you from doing the same to him but was failing time and again.

The giggles and curses filling the room were broken by the familiar ring of Bucky’s satellite phone, making you and him pause midway in breathless states, your hands entwined in his as his glittering oceans stared down at you through the forest of autumnal mess that was his hair- almost tickling your cheeks as it swung about above you.

Suddenly both of you were overtly conscious of each other’s presence- the flushed faces being the biggest evidence as Bucky got up in a daze to pick up the phone while you tried to compose your heart running a marathon of its own, pushing your mess of a dress- a floral navy blue one- down your thighs and knees.

“Is Y/N okay?” was the first thing Stark spoke as soon as Bucky connected the call, taking both you and Bucky by confused surprise.

“I’m fine, Mr Stark,” you responded, tucking your hair back and getting up to walk over to Bucky’s side. Both of you could feel the warmth emanating out of the other’s body, speaking nothing but being aware of the measured distance. “Is everything alright?”

“That’s what I’m asking you,” Stark articulated, “your heart rate was through the roof just now.”

You could’ve sworn you felt your body take a dip in a virtual pool of ice, bringing all the blood gushing out to every little vein as you turned towards Bucky, who had more or less felt the same but instead of freezing where he stood, he shifted his weight on his legs, his pink lips parting in some quick thought.

“Oh, that!” you voiced into the phone, trying to buy yourself time to come up with a decent explanation before blurting, “the…uh…a bee stung me I think.”

Bucky’s brows came together, looking at you with such a bland expression, suddenly questioning your motor skills, making you shrug.

“I thought it was poisonous so I kind of had a jumpscare,” you stretched the corner of your lips at the garbage you were spewing just to hide the fact that you and the assassin you were pretending to be married to just had a tickle fight.

_And you thought he was a drag_ , your voice teased you, lighting up the spots Bucky’s hands had so effortlessly tortured.

“Anyways,” you broke your train of thought, “did you find how the bad guys were able to break through the facility’s security?”

Bucky’s shoulders eased themselves, glad to have the topic diverted as he kept having reruns of your touch over his stomach while your new fragrance filled up his lungs, striking a tune with all the right nerves- wrong to his brain.

“Yeah,” Stark snapped back to the present, bringing you and Bucky with him, “they used a reflective bridge to block the encryption flow, feeding Friday her own information, giving them a two minutes window to bypass through the levels before she was able to recognise the breach.”

Tony went on about the logic behind it, spewing all the technical ingredients for the recipe, driving Bucky away from his ramblings to your face. He had to do a double take of your features to realise something had changed.

Your one arm gripped the other, fingers digging into your flesh, your expression growing sombre, your eyes stuck to the phone’s screen. Your lips were parted in a thought that did not seem anywhere near a positive one.

“…I am pissed. Impressed but pissed. I really want to know who came up with the bridge.”

Bucky didn’t have to know much about the technicality of the situation to realise what was going on.

“I did,” he heard your quivering voice speak.

The other side went silent except for Pepper’s whispered curse.

“I didn’t-” you muttered as you tried to blink away the tears, your legs shifting your weight between them while your hands went behind your neck, “I didn’t know…”

A long exhale was all that came from the other side.

“I’m so sorry Mr Stark,” you croaked before taking a step away, clenching your stomach and walking out of the room.

__________

“Of course she feels guilty, Tony,” Pepper’s soothing voice came over the speaker now resting on Bucky’s ears, “she had no idea her work was going to be used to steal, let alone to nearly kill her. You know it better than anyone else.”

“I know, but I’m worried,” Tony sighed, “she just can’t seem to catch a break. It’s one incident after another for this one.”

“Tony, you’re doing it again,” Pepper cautioned, “just liked you did with Peter.”

“Well, Peter had May, I had you. Who does she have with her right now?”

“Bucky,” Pepper stated matter-of-factly. Tony scoffed at the statement, making Bucky straighten up where he sat, ready to throw words at Stark but finding nothing much to go on.

“Bucky,” Pepper’s voice echoed, “just keep an eye on her, will you? She’s a bit socially awkward but she’s an amazing girl who just is having a string of bad things following her for some time now.”

“Put on some music for her,” Tony added, “that always seems to rub her the right way. She must have done that already though.”

Bucky’s eyes flickered at the statement. ”No. She did turn on the radio but shut it just a few seconds later. Speaking of socially awkward, Pepper, she has been quite vocal about her hatred towards me for pushing her down into the water against her will. More than once.”

“Okay, and?” Pepper questioned for continuation, taking Bucky by surprise.

“And…that’s it. She’s been going on about it since the moment she woke up.”

_Silence._

A light laugh reverberated through the speakers. Pepper’s laugh.

“Good, God, Bucky,” she implored, “what do you do when Sam or Tony force you to do things you do not like?”

Bucky blinked, sitting straight on the couch before bending again. “I…tell them I don’t like it.”

“Uh huh. And why do you bother doing that?”

A gong went off in Bucky’s head a bit later than Pepper anticipated.

“And just so you know,” Pepper added, “that’s the part she wants you to know. So there could be a whole lot more.”

“Yeah,” Tony’s voice chided, “so, remember, songs. And be careful when she sings. She sings when there is something bothering her.”

Now that you caught Bucky’s attention. He cursed his ignorant self for not realising you were as alone on this uncalled mission as him, maybe even more.

“I’ll remember. Thanks, Pepper.”

“My pleasure Bucky.”

Bucky could still hear their voices bickering at the other end.

_Why do you call him Bucky?_

_Because I’m allowed to._

_Since when are you two on nicknames basis._

_Since we first went out for coffee._

_Wha-When did that happen?!_


	5. Chapter 5

_Man, I know that it’s hard to digest_

_But maybe this story ain’t so different from the rest_

_And I know it seems hard to accept_

_But you’ve got your demons, and she’s got her regrets_

Bucky could’ve sworn some part of the universe- or the speakers in the bar, probably- was speaking just for him through those words as he entered the soft space. His eyes took in Zemo the redhead, who now stood behind the bar with his phone unfazed as ever, while a blond man poured out drinks for a couple that sat on the bar. One of the two men who sat there, the tanned one, caught him looking in their direction, giving Bucky a casual nod before he turned his head towards the opposite corner where the booths were. Bucky followed his gaze and saw a familiar leg hanging out from below the corner table, the foot strapped in brown gladiators, the thin laces twisted intricately around it like its own form of art.

_And I know that it’s hard to digest_

_I really know this shit is as good as it gets_

Looking back at the man, he nodded in gratitude before walking towards the last booth. Towards you.

_And I know it seems hard to accept_

_But you’ve got your demons, and she’s got her regrets_

The afternoon sun was blazing through the window, lighting up the table with its invisible flames, making you glow under the purified reflecting rays. You didn’t see him coming, allowing him to catch you scribbling something on a notepad with a pencil- both, the hotel’s property kept at your disposal- while your phone and the earphones still connected to it remained on the table, a bit away from where you sat.

_But you’ve got your demons, and she’s got her regrets_

Bucky slowed his pace to take in the warmth he watched emanate from you for the first time- even if it was just from the reflecting sun. But just then your burning Y/E/C peaked from under your lashes, making him saunter towards you at what he guessed would be his normal pace.

“Nice shirt,” you commented, pointing the head of your pencil at his sky blue Henley.

“Thanks,” he responded before sitting down to your right, thinking he wanted to keep a measured distance. But what he really wanted was not to block the light from the other side; keep watching you glow like this even though your face carried a sullen taste.

Driving his hands through his hair, he looked at the page you were working on.

“What’s that?”

Your eyes quickly shifted from the paper to him, catching the blue shine at you, making the back of your neck heat up a little. You straightened where you sat, you legs driven back to you as you kept your pencil down and turned the page towards him.

“It’s the symbols on the paper those men were after last night,” you stated, making Bucky turn towards the pad, giving you a window to watch his pale, just-came-out-of-the-shower features, forcing you to catch your breath before it gave away your idiotic musings.

_How can someone be so beautiful?_ You heard your mind.

_Didn’t you say that about a centuries-old paper?_ Your inner voice bounced around in your head.

_Yeah, so? He’s a century old too._

_Ah! You dirty girl. You do have a type!_

Bucky scrunched his nose at the paper, making your heart play the harp with all its strings. “I…this looks more like poetry than symbols. Quite…quite literally.”

You smirked, more for your amusement than his curious eyes that registered the swollen red bags under yours, making a part of Bucky twist at the vivid thought of tears in your eyes.

“I wrote the symbols down as a description that only I can understand. Thought it would seem out of the ordinary if I would just lay it flat over the bar to study it or draw in the notebook,” you admitted, taking the pencil in your hands before the smirk disappeared and a distant look washed over your eyes as you looked at your phone. “You never know who might be watching.”

With an elongated sigh, you passed Bucky a smile before going scratching the back of your neck, paying attention to what was playing in the background.

“I’m sorry.”

Bucky’s coarse words had your full attention, making everything around you pause for the instant you let his words seep through your ears up to your brain.

“What?” you heard yourself whisper.

“I am sorry,” Bucky shifted a little towards you, his voice heavy, “for forcing you into doing something you were not comfortable with.”

Just like the tides outside were washing the shores, you felt something warm wash away a part of the heaviness you had been carrying inside you.

“I should not have lied to you,” he stressed, his eyes weighing the truth inside them, “because one wrong decision and you might have died and it would have been my fault.”

You finally let out all air caught inside you, pressing your lips together to prevent them from trembling.

“I’m sorry for being unnecessarily exhausting about you saving my life,” you professed, trying to meet his gaze but faltering eventually.

“It’s my fault, really,” you pointed out, shrugging as Bucky saw you twist your ring on your finger, “none of this would’ve happened if I never left my dorm, never ran into Lena, never let myself be talked into joining some fucked up brotherhood of the night of these underworld goons-”

Your words began to spill out broken as you continued to babble, making a string inside bucky tighten around his chest as he shifted closer to you.

“Hey, hey, hey,” he whispered as he brought his flesh hand forward to hold your cold one, “stop.”

“Did you know what you were entering into when…Lena introduced you to whatever it was?”

You looked at Bucky’s delicate blue holding your gaze through the haze building up inside your eyes.

You shook your head.

“Did you know it while you were doing their dirty work for them?”

You shook it again. “But I did do it, didn’t I? People are dead because of me, because of what I did. How am I any different from the ones who fire the bullet?”

And at that moment he realised what Steve must have felt when he had first tried to reason with Bucky how any action of the Winter Soldier was not his fault.

“Because you have a conscience,” he declared, never taking his eyes off you, “You knew the moment it all unravelled in front of you that it was wrong. You helped Scott make his security impenetrable. You stopped him from losing his job, his company, his credibility. You are really not the one at fault here, doll. Trust me.”

_I think I’ll borrow tomorrow’s happiness for today_

_I lent on the cracks of all this love_

_And it went away_

You took in a good lungful of breaths to calm down and let his words penetrate the wall that was building up inside you. His eyes didn’t leave you for a second, making sure you were actually taking his words seriously.

Why did he have to be such a sweetheart? Wasn’t the whole soldier thing enough to send flutters down my existence?

“Thanks, Barnes.” You blinked away your tears, wiping away whatever little fallout was there with your fingers.

_Falling I’m falling I’m falling I’m falling down_

_Falling I’m falling I’m falling I’m falling down_

_Next to you_

“Bucky,” he stated, easing back into the cushioned setting behind both of you.

“Hmm?”

“Well,” he decreed moving his shoulders in a casual shrug as his lips played with a smile that teased your eyes, “considering we are married for the week, I figured you should call me by the name I prefer.”

_Pin a string in the middle and tie it to my chest_

_I’m spinning around your five-mile radius, don’t look away_

_You arched your brows in wonder, a soft smile finding its way on your lips._

“Bucky.” The name came off your lips and tongue like a declaration of its own, making that tightened string inside Bucky’s chest tug a, but it a good way, producing a note of its own.

_Falling, I’m falling, I’m falling, I’m falling down_

_Falling, I’m falling, I’m falling, I’m falling down_

_Next to you_

The smile he gave you reached his eyes, crinkling the corners even, making the harp inside you haul repeatedly at that one string as if letting you know you were forgetting how to breathe.

“Here you go, wifey,” he gave you a perfect beam, bending a little towards to you, making you pause somewhat in shock at an unmistakable thought passing through your brain-sending quivers down your spine- before you saw him take out a card from his pant pocket and sit back straight, flushing your insides in embarrassment.

He brought forward a plastic card that had nothing but the name _S.I. Black_.

“Is that what I think it is?” you took the card in your hands to examine the etched chip on the back covered neatly inside the black matte with the glossy magnetic strip running over it.

“Believe it or not, Stark’s emergency kits come with a credit card.”

You laughed in pure amusement.

“Oh, this has Pepper written all over it,” you chortled.

“My thoughts exactly,” Bucky chimed in.

The next two hours passed in buying drinks and snacks at the bar to fill up your hungry stomachs as you explained to Bucky the significance and interpretation of the symbols and how Eton may have been trying to procure an ancient method of creating a new element for the old parchment or OWL as you, Stark and Banner had started calling it, was one of the many old fragments found from the earliest most stable civilisations of the world that had some really efficient methods of purifying metals, making weapons, chemicals and even new alloys from the most impure metals found inside earth.

All the interpretations you could make out, but what you were not able to work with was that there was no order in the information that was coming out in front of you; it was gibberish if not total chaos. You would have driven yourself down the pit of distress had Bucky not slammed the pad shut and told you to take a break.

He left the booth to get you something to relax your nerves, leaving you to stretch your arms and legs as you tried to settle with your glass of water till he came back, while also inviting a pair of bright and curious eyes to your corner.

The couple you’d seen taking pictures of the shore came towards you, their arms entangled in a casual but loving embrace, carrying beers in their free hands.

“Hi!” the girl with the purple hues in her black hair jumped as she waved at you, pure joy dripping from her form, making you reflect the same warmth she was radiating.

“Hi,” you exclaimed, bringing your hand forward for a shake, “I’m Y/N.”

“I’m Yukio,” she practically sang, “and this is my love, Sonic!”

“‘Sup,” Sonic gave you a nod, clearly not much of a greetings person.

You asked them to join you at your table, thinking it would be a good distraction from the all the riddled symbols your brain was seeing right now.

“Are you also on your honeymoon?” You couldn’t help but smile at Yukio’s unadulterated enthusiasm, making you think it had barely been a minute but you would die for this girl.

“Yeah,” you nodded, trying to control the heat building inside your cheeks, “he just went to the bar to get us some drinks.” You pointed your gaze at Bucky who- as if out of some telepathic connection- turned his head towards you at the same time, waving at the new company you had just found.

Sonic looked at Bucky with a calculated smirk on her dark tinted lips before flicking her eyes towards you.

“Huh,” was all she let out.

“What?” you didn’t want to but her expression was making it difficult for you to hold back the urge to ask her what she was thinking about your supposed man.

“Nice dude?” she asked rather than answering.

“Hells yeah,” you answered.

“Does the dishes?”

“Mm-hmm.” Technically, yes, he did his dishes. No lie there.

“Treats you good?”

“Yup.”

He sat down with me and heard me ramble about my work even though I am sure half of it went above his head, still nodding and listening with the same enthusiasm as he did when I first started. I’d say he’s treating me quite well.

You took your glass in your hand, happy with yourself, trying to hide your smile with the sip of water.

“Gives you head?”

The water gushed the wrong way, forcing out a cough as your nasal passage and lungs ached at the sensation.

Nothing in this world could have prepared you for this.

“Babe!” Yukio gasped as she started rambling something to her girl in Japanese.

Between your coughing fits and Sonic’s disgruntled moans followed by her eye-roll, you could tell she was being told not ask something so personal with someone they’d just met.

But she just stared at you as you tried to clear your throat and persuade Yukio you were fine. Fantastic, even, while your insides were on fire trying to get the image out of your head.

“She’s clearly tensed, babe,” Sonic stated to Yukio before turning back to you with a nonchalant stare, “You could really use some.”

That’s what I’ve been telling her for ages! Your inner voice grew two sizes at those words.

“She could use what?”

You could feel every cell in your body dry up at the sound of a familiar voice standing right behind you.

Bucky sat down beside you, keeping no distance between you two, letting you feel his cold metal right over your overheated arm, as he kept down his drinks and made acquaintances with the pair sitting opposite you.

“I was just telling her that you needed to go down-”

“DOWN to the shore to gather some sea shells!” you nearly shouted into the air around you. “Cheers!” you announced, clinking your drink to every glass on the table before gulping it down altogether.

Yukio pressed Sonic to leave you and Bucky alone but not before the latter gave you a fistbump before leaving.

The alcohol eased your nerves, letting you breathe in a swirl of colours for a second as you felt your accelerated heartbeat finally slow down.

“So…” Bucky eased himself beside you- gulping down his own drink- his arm still in contact with yours, taking away all the unnecessary heat from your flushed body, “what did she mean when she said if I gave you head?”

____________

A careful explanation of how his super hearing worked, a negation of his constant persuasion of telling him what Sonic had meant, his ultimatum of finding it out from someone else in the hotel, you doing a google search and showing him the specific results for the terminology he was intrigued about and a pair of flushed faces drowning in embarrassment later you two were sitting in the lawn at the back of the hotel lit by fairy lights and fire lamps all around you.

Two faces distinctively red, sitting next to each other on the dinner table, speaking nothing, just enjoying their drinks quietly amongst the mushy crowd seated all around you.

Yukio had especially dragged you away from the gathering to apologise for her partner’s straightforwardness, making you melt at her sweetness there and then. And when she did, you tried to find a way to not go back to your seat any time soon, trying to buy as much time as you could to compose yourself; to get that one specific, extremely crisp image of him in between your legs out of your head.

So you found yourself at the boutique where Louise had taken you in the morning, buying whatever decent clothing you could find for yourself that would help you get through the week. You also ended up buying a royal blue sheen shirt for Bucky for no particular reason except for the fact that you could clearly see him pulling it off.

The twenty minutes away from the all the social setup and keeping up the facade helped your nerves to ease up a bit, allowing you to take a mimosa with from the bar before heading outside and playing pretend again.

Everything seemed to have been going smoothly till the fireworks celebrating some local event started.

You had been standing with Louise and Jamal- the man who had been sitting at the bar with his husband this afternoon- talking about your top five most interesting pieces of history when a loud bang had caught you off guard, making you jump while the cocktail had slipped from your trembling hands. All the buried memories of last night resurfaced as another bang ripped the locks holding back the incident splintered at the sound and the vibration pricking at you violently. The eerie eyes with that unsettling smile came back and so did the sound of cracks developing on the glass as those dead grey orbs tried to hammer their way through the barrier keeping you away from his grasp.

You had felt your breathing falter. The heat turning cold with the ocean’s current brazing you, sending disconcerting shivers down your spine. You were trying to hold on to something in the midst of the unfamiliarity engulfing you in the darkness of the night, Louise and Jamal’s repeated worried words not being of much help.

“It’s just the fireworks, sweetie,” Louise persuaded your figure bent by the garden light.

“It’s alright, I got her.” The familiar husky voice found its way through the growing crowd; you waiting for it to hold you up above the surface of the sea of bad recollection that was trying to drown you.

And suddenly just like the first splash of a warm shower running down your aching skin, you felt the familiar hot and cold arms take you in their embrace. You wasted no time of your own to wrap your arms around the familiar frame you had held last night with every last drop of faith inside you.

“I got you. I got you,” Bucky whispered, his voice vibrating through him near your ear buried in his chest, “breathe. It’s okay. Just breathe. I’m here. You’re fine.”

Another firework went off, forcing you to flinch inside Bucky’s hold while he tightened his embrace around you.

“You want to go back upstairs, doll?” he whispered soothingly into your ears.

You nodded, not ready to face anything and anyone else.

“Okay. Alright. Let’s go,” he uttered, his flesh hand easing the goosebumps on the skin of your arm as he wrapped it around you while slowly moving inside the mansion, in the direction of the elevator.

He didn’t bother with the stares or the questions passing as murmurs in the small crowd watching you with keen interest. All he did was grab a bottle of water from the nearest table on his way in from his free arm, the metal files clinking with the glass as you two stepped inside the elevator.

The doors closed and for the first time, you felt the little golden square space to be so welcoming with its haunting silence.

“I-I…uh…” you tried to find words to conjure up a sensible statement to explain him your sudden dissolution in the midst of the dinner party, your mind trying to give him a reason for this precipitous need for his hold, “the um t-the explosion…fire from last night. It was all-”

“Relax,” he whispered near your ear as he rubbed his thumb on your arm, undoing the stretches of the stress right under his touch.

His hold only left you for the moment he had to open the door to the room as you walked inside the space you’d mentally made your own for the next few days and sat down at the edge of the bed.

“Here-” Bucky took out your phone- the earphones still dangling from it- and brought it forward for you to take- “Stark told me some good tunes help you calm down.”

You took the phone from his hands and brought it down in your lap, absent-mindedly pulling at the wire with your fingers.

Bucky stood there, watching you in some deep thought, surprised at the fact that he found himself more at the anguished edges of the cliffs he stood at right now than this morning- when he was sure he couldn’t bear watching you mumble whatever your first thought was, irritating him beyond what he was used to with the rest of the Avengers.

Now, a part of him ached at your silence, wanting to hear you tease him with anything related to deep waters, wishing that you would just charge at him out of the blue just so he could no know you are still here with him.

All he had had in his mind before last night was his image of you with your earphones in, dancing around Banner’s lab while the scientist tried to get your attention, twirling in some deep thought as you would move from one corner of the lab to another to search something, drag your chair, the wheels under it feeling your mood as you would vent out your frustrations on them. All he had known you as was the intern with the headphones, the one who would roam about the halls of the facility at night to go to the kitchen and find some food because- according to Banner- you would make your brain twice than the normal amount, for the research as well as the efforts to keep yourself in sync with the songs inside your head.

Now, you sat in front of him in the dark- the only thing lighting up your features being the yellow glow of the fairy lights gleaming beneath your floor outside the window. It pained Bucky to see you out of your element- and he hated every bit of it.

That’s when the realisation dawned upon him, making him shut his eyes close tightly as he ran his hands through his hair for not grasping it earlier.

He sat down on the edge of the bed beside you, his hands reaching for his pockets in his jeans, coming out, shifting in the dark before he took in a long breath for the things he was about to say.

“Do you know his name?”

The edge in Bucky’s words brought you back to the present, making you turn towards the blue that was dilated in the dark, reflecting the pale yellow at the rims of his pupils like rings of fire burning inside him.

“Did he tell you his name?”

Your hand went back to the tracker around your finger, turning it round and round, before visiting your memories to find what Bucky was looking for.

“His chatroom name was Dex790. I’m guessing it stood for Dexter but that probably would be his code name or something.”

“What did he look like?”

“Bucky, I don’t-”

“Please,” he begged, the fire inside his oceans burning darker, “just tell me.”

For a second you wanted to be scared by the latent rage you saw inside him, but no matter how hard you tried, you just couldn’t bring yourself to hate him.

“Blonde, Caucasian, square jaw but he had a small face and grey eyes. Like…like they were dead. He had these…perfect white teeth like way too white. Abnormally white. And a very light scar right here, in front of his left ear.”

He nodded in satisfaction at you before dipping his head in his lap.

That’s when you first noticed the light glowing from his phone in his fingers there.

“Did you get that?” he asked, looking at the phone.

“Got it,” Steve’s voice came over the speakers, “Friday’s already begun the search. We’ll get him, Y/N.”

“Hey, Y/N,” Natasha’s faint voice called from a distance, “don’t let the metal guy scare you, okay? He looks threatening but he’s just a fluffy bunny on the inside.”

Bucky snorted at the phone; you could clearly see his cheeks turn colour even in the dim lighting.

“Oh, I think I am the one who’s been scaring him for the last twenty-four hours, Natasha,” you quipped, stretching the corner of your lips before tucking your hair back behind your ear.

“Ooooh,” Sam howled from somewhere, “can I please take her out for coffee when she comes b-”

Bucky cut the call before you could hear how it ended, throwing the phone over to the couch before turning back to your hands still fiddling with your earphones.

“He won’t harm you, Y/N,” Bucky tried to reassure you.

“He was quite clear he wanted to kill me, Bucky,” you countered.

“You think I’d let him?” he retorted, shutting you up with the resolve in his eyes making an unprecedented spirit wash over you.

“Don’t let the fear he created inside your head stop you from doing what you love, Y/N,” he declared in a heavy whisper, making you turn your gaze towards your phone.

“Every time I think of putting on my headphones, all I can think about is him standing behind me, waiting in some corner before I catch him looking,” you croaked, your hands feeling a little tremble in your hands on speaking out your worst thoughts into the air.

“Then let me deal with half of it,” he declared, your eyes following his pale hands as he untangled the beautiful mess and gave you one while keeping the other with himself.

“Now, put on whatever it is that you hear,” he insisted as he secured it in his ear.

A chuckle left your lips, catching him off guard as he stilled his presence to finally breathe in your placid happiness.

“Nah, I don’t think you’ll like it,” you surmised as you opened your phone and then quickly closed it.

“Come on, try me,” he moaned, making you curse at the hum that vibrated down your core that made you bite down on your lips.

Taking one good gulp of air, you opened up your collection and put on your playlist titled _I Wonder What The Winter Sun Looks Like_.

A click echoing in the ear invites a soothing guitar solo for the two of you.

_Alone in a crowded room_

_My eyes will search for you_

You looked at Bucky’s eyes reflecting the waxing moon in the strings of his perfect blues, wondering what you were doing here in his company at this moment when a few weeks earlier you had been sitting at the other end alone with your dark thoughts never even thinking you could actually be in the company of a man who could put the Gods to shame, let alone be comforted by his warm embrace.

_Abandoned by my company_

_I’ll search for what’s in front of me_

_And hope that I find something new_

Bucky was having the same thoughts, wondering how a girl he barely knew a few days ago was becoming more than just a passing thought in his mess of a mind. But you were becoming a delicious heated mess, everything from your eyes to your lips- oh those beautiful lips parted in some wandering thought.

_My heart is like the ocean searching_

_Searching for the shore I’m learning_

_There must be something more than dreaming_

The ocean outside rebelling against the rocks no longer bothered the two of you as you were tired to understand these bizarre torrents building up inside your hearts.

_This heart of mine is tired_

_But my feet will not retire_

_The alcohol will not suppress_

_The fear of death and loneliness_

_I know that I’m not alone_

You felt your body let go of a rope inside you preventing you to loosen up in front of your company and found yourself leaning back on to the mattress, letting your body drop onto the feathery lump, ready for it to take away all your stress. You didn’t know what he would think of it, what he would make of it. You just lay there in your state, as you wanted to.

_My heart is like the ocean searching_

_Searching for the shore I’m learning_

_There must be something more than dreaming_

The bed dipped beside you, Bucky’s body coming down next to you, facing you like it was the most obvious thing to do. You too turned your body towards him, the words coming out of the song still intact inside your senses.

_I’ve wrestled with the truth for quite some time_

_But I’ve been drowning in this restless mind_

Bucky found himself loosening his own masks in your presence. Watching your fragile gaze searching for something he found riling up in his own stomach. A previously unobserved flutter.

_I’m sick of being so unsatisfied_

_Tell me that the answer’s right_

_God are you awake at night?_

_‘Cause I’ve been abandoned by my company_

_I’ll search for what’s in front of me_

_And hope that I find something new_

You wondered if you were the only one feeling these sensations your voice had been teasing you about the entire time. Was this the thing you were concerned about when you first found yourself in this room with him this morning?

_My heart is like the ocean searching_

_Searching for the shore I’m learning_

_There must be something more than dreaming_

Abandoning all things that were sullen to your minds, both of you find the solace in the soothing songs cradling your hearts in their tunes, the sleep finally coming for both of you as your bodies let the sands of slumber work the magic twice as fast in each other’s company.

_My heart is like the ocean searching_

_Searching for the shore I’m learning_

_There must be something more than dreaming_


	6. Chapter 6

“Babe.”

“Hmm?”

“What about them? Do they look like they’re a thing?”

Yukio turned into the direction Sonic was staring in, taking in your figure dressed in pink shorts and a floral halter top, sitting on the rock by the shore with Bucky, who was dressed in a red Hawaii shirt and black lounge pants. Your hands were busy scribbling something on a similar notepad Yukio had seen you work with yesterday.

“-I don't…” she heard you saying, watching you scrunch your nose at your partner with an offended gasp.

“Y/N,” Bucky stated with such a determined tone, “you _were_ snoring last night.”

“Oh yeah? Well, so were you. And don’t get me started on your stomach growls, hon,” you responded, huffing and going back to the pages in your lap. “I told you to go have your dinner but no! Why listen to me? Let’s keep the whales awake at night!” you practically sang, swinging your head to add the sarcastic effect.

“Oh, I did bring early breakfast,” he added, bringing forward the tray of oysters into his lap, making your features turn a shade paler with a painful ache.

“No,” you whispered, closing your eyes in defeat and inching away from Bucky, “Bucky, no.”

“What? They are delicious!” He stated, opening one with a small knife he took out of his pants, making you squirm visibly as you inched away a little more and he shifted towards you to show you the glossy, mushy insides as he moaned about how delicious they looked.

You whimpered as he scooped out the insides and gulped them down in one go, forcing you to get up and walk away from him when he wanted you to try one.

“Just try one, doll. You’ll love it!”

“Get that sea blob away from me!”

A few seconds later, it is Bucky walking away from you as you had your right arm extended in his direction, a giant furry brown spider sitting on the back of your palm.

“But look at how cute he is! Bucky, come on, it’s just a spider.”

“No, it’s not cute! Nothing about this monster is cute. Get that thing away from me! Y/N, I swear on all the songs you love-”

Your shriek filled the air swirling from the sea around you as Bucky picked you up and kept a strong hold around your waist as he bent you sideways keeping your arms away from him all the while telling you to ‘shake that crawler away’ while you chortled, your face turning red from the gut aching laughter at the assassin’s actions on seeing the spider.

Yukio turned back to her girl. “Aww! They sure look cute together!”

“Mnh, I’m not convinced,” Sonic muttered, entwining her fingers in Yukio’s.

 

Bucky had kept his early morning busy when he had reluctantly left your peaceful, snoring side to contact Stark, fill him in about your progress, do a recon of the hotel’s estate and know about the whereabouts of the man who had threatened to kill you.

“His name is Dexter Ian Christenson. Ex seal. Used to be a shadow hunter for the military’s gory operations once. This guy is as sane as the American Psycho according to the last evaluation the force did before he was compelled to take early retirement. He hasn’t been seen since the incident. Almost like the guy just ghosted. But Friday did pick up the vehicle he had been using the night before through the street cams. A rental under one of Eton’s shadow companies. Has been sitting at the same spot since that man dirtied my facility. He is either gone underground or is searching for the OWL that Y/N so blatantly took away from right under his nose. You know what this means, Barnes.”

Of course, he knew what that meant. If Dexter was as balanced as Tony was painting him in his head, you had a target on your head the moment he had set his eyes on you. Bucky was not ruling out the possibility of him tracking you down in search for the OWL. But what ticked him the wrong way was the conversation you and Dexter had when you were trapped in the lab, his words still crisp inside Bucky’s mind from what all he had heard over the comms. That man had been playing with you and if Bucky had read him right, he would have been elated that you got away with his trophy, making him savour the chase before he hunted you down for his pleasure. The mere thought of him in your vicinity had been enough to snap the firewood into two in his flesh hand when he, Jamal’s husband Ryan and Yukio had offered to help Meera with the evening’s bonfire preparation.

“I will never forgive you for this,” you muttered under your breath.

“It’s just one night,” Bucky retorted, straightening his silver striped tie over the blue sheen shirt you gifted him before buttoning the jacket on his suit.

“And that is one entire anomaly waiting to be unfolded,” you announced, pointing at the pages on the bed, “but you’d rather take me to this stupid evening where I know no one and everyone who knows me probably thinks I’m insane.”

You cursed at the satin blue ribbon coming and going out of everywhere from your front to your back, clearly not a riddle you were happy to be wound up in.

“Come here,” he sighed, taking the ends of the ribbons from your hands and pressing them in his mouth as he loosened the complex mess you had created over the gown. His light touch worked around you to create a symmetrical satin web, before turning you around to tie it up in a nice bow at the back.

You admitted to yourself to be quite impressed by his work, at the same time wondering who else- and how many ‘elses’- he had worked this art on.

“You cannot just lock yourself up in the room like this. You’ve been sitting here for almost the entire day, Y/N. Take a break from the puzzle solving, would you? Enjoy a little.”

You took in one quick breath to calm your nerves that were worked up at the simple graze of his fingers on your bare back.

“I know you think I don’t know much about you, Bucky, but one week is enough to read into what any Avenger likes or dislikes. So, don’t play the ‘loosen up a little’ act with me,” you glared at his reflection in the mirror, catching his brazen blue off guard.

“I may be socially awkward but I’m not dumb,” you added, making Bucky take a mental note to not give away any weakness in front of you that you might use to torture him later. The spider had been enough for the next six months.

But try as you may, he was never going to admit that he wanted to keep you close, in a crowd, where there were low chances of Dexter coming for your head on.

“You’re right,” he confessed, “I’m not much of a people’s person either. But, I’d rather bear the crowd outside than you sulking at the pages, cursing whatever ancient ruler came up with the ways to encrypt their love letters for their better half.”

You were wounded by the open attack for a moment but suddenly shut your mouth at another thought. “You know, a love letter is a good theory, maybe I could find a method to-”

“Get out of the room before I burn down every piece of paper in here.”

Bucky’s eyes didn’t falter with the statement and as much as you wanted to spew that he wouldn’t burn a thousand-year-old manuscript, the warning in his eyes made move towards the door.

“Fine,” your words quaked as your back hit the wall instead of going out the open door, “but just so you know, I’m a very lousy dance partner.”

 _So much for the questionable feelings, I had begun to have last night_ , you thought to yourself.

How much of it was questionable and how much of you was lousy, you were about to find out tonight.

“No.”

“Yes! It’s a tradition!”

You looked at Louise with as much of respectful disapproval you could manage before she effortlessly shoved your whole being smack into Bucky’s towering form.

“Come on, now,” she shouted for everyone to hear, “all the couples dance around the bonfire to mark the beginning of the local new year and kiss each other to close the vows you take for the new beginning.”

“Yeah,” Sonic quipped, a smirk on her face, “nothing says ‘I love you’ better than dancing to some blood ritual for the island nation’s inhabitants.”

_See! She is clearly the sensible one. And Meera! Where. Is. Meera?_

“As much as I’d love to correct my wife,” Meera spoke from the bar, putting down her bourbon to come and take her beloved’s hand, “this one tradition is really sacred and goes back ages. It’d be really lovely if all you would join us.”

_Well, there goes the sensible one, clearly smitten under the moon._

The soft music on the piano started. Libet’s delay.

“Is there anything you’re good at?” Bucky surmised with a smirk, clearly enjoying the pissed look on your features.

It would’ve felt nice to come back with all the things you were brilliant at but the mental exhaustion from overworking on cracking the ancient codes had taken a toll over you. So, without a word, you started to head towards the bar before Bucky’s hand caught you.

“Wai-Wait,” he pleaded, positioning you back in front of him, “sorry. Just…let me guide you.”

He patiently waited with his hand open for yours.

With the silent ocean breeze teasing your nerve ends, making you want to curl up in a familiar warmth somewhere beyond all that came with a deadline and a death threat, you glided your palm into his metal, while his flesh hand went across your waist, drawing you closer.

Your body was already beginning to absorb the glow he was emanating, relaxing you with a welcoming surprise.

“Just work your sway with mine,” his pink lips covered in between the dense stubble spoke near you, his scent engulfing you from everywhere.

You synchronised your footwork with his, the sway of your hips at the movement of his feet, the push of his flesh hand to twirl you, the pull of his metal to dip you as he came down from the dazed high, breathing in your form like his personal ecstasy. Every breath in his movement gradually trickled over you, wiping off the dark thoughts, taking away the tightness of your worked up muscles, nullifying the threat that lingered somewhere out there.

_How could his presence do this to you?_

_How could someone make you feel so much at peace with yourself?_

And like a high note to mark the end, the music stopped and a song of windchimes filled the air, Meera declaring it as the time to close your vows.

Your reluctant yet curious gaze looked at your partner for further guidance.

The thought was one delicious invitation; one beautiful wave of desire passing through your chest to cut the distance between the two of you and finally answer the question of what he would taste like.

His personal oceans were dark with the same wonderful temptation and you had no idea how much restraint it took on his part to not completely crash on to you. Instead, he planted his inquisitive lips on your cheeks, igniting the latent seabeds inside you like neon blood running through every flora and fauna lighting up the entire undiscovered ocean.

And just like that, the daze lifted up with the sudden explosion of hip-hop reverberating through the speakers around the bonfire; Zemo the redhead doing the honours of taking over as the DJ for the night.

_Needless to say, I keep her in check_

_She was all bad-bad, nevertheless (yeah)_

It truly was a shock for Bucky to watch you bop your head at the new tune, only later realising it was more of wonderment to see you glow under the fire lamps- the golden hues doing no justice to the subtle stare you were giving him- and sway your head like that.

_Callin’ it quits now, baby, I’m a wreck (wreck)_

_Crash at my place, baby, you’re a wreck (wreck)_

Your heated body let go of the moderation, letting the tantalising feeling still on your cheeks work through your mind, swirling at the notes you were used to.

_Needless to say, I keep her in check_

_She was all bad-bad, nevertheless_

_Callin’ it quits now, baby, I’m a wreck_

_Crash at my place, baby, you’re a wreck_

You took him by his hands, making Bucky raise his hands and sway to the rhythm like you were showing him.

_Thinkin’ in a bad way, losin’ your grip_

_Screamin’ at my face, baby don’t trip_

_Someone took a big L, don’t know how that felt_

_Lookin’ at you sideways, party on tilt_

You were howling, completely letting the beats take over your senses, everything a sparkling blur. Everything except the stunning blue staring at you through the crinkled corners.

_Ooh-ooh, some things you just can’t refuse_

_She wanna ride me like a cruise and I’m not tryna lose_

Bucky had no idea of his own happiness was bursting through his heart on watching you like this, his curious and appalled eyes never leaving your jumping figure.

_Then you’re left in the dust unless I stuck by ya_

_You’re a sunflower, I think your love would be too much_

_Or you’ll be left in the dust, unless I stuck by ya_

_You’re the sunflower, you’re the sunflower_

“I told you I’m a lousy dance partner! I never said I was bad at dancing on my own.”

Your giggles filled the air while the cool sand under your feet made you shiver as you walked down the shore.

Bucky was quick to cover you up in his suit jacket as a laugh found its way out of him.

“Haha. For a second there I thought you were possessed or something,” he mentioned before bursting into giggles at his own joke.

“Hah!” you mocked a laugh back.

“Okay, I admit. I never saw you as someone with such…moves,” Bucky muttered, shrugging his shoulders.

“Yeah. The whole not knowing how to swim thing really threw you off balance, didn’t it, darling?”

Bucky licked his lips and smiled at you.

“You really surprise me, you know. In a good way,” he sighed, his hands in his pocket, his arms casually colliding into yours as you swayed with the lingering effects of the music and just a tiny bit of alcohol.

“Yeah?” you questioned his statement, “even after I nearly took you down yesterday in my anger right on this beach somewhere?”

Bucky’s uncontrollable laughter boomed around you, filling you up with the most pleasant heat in your cheeks on watching him like this.

“Oh yeah, right. You-” he tried to dam his laughter now and then but failed miserably- “you…yeah you definitely took me down. It scared the hell out of me. My life definitely flashed before my eyes. What? I swear on…on…umm…yes! I swear on that constellation I was scared.”

You poked him with your elbow. “Don’t destroy my constellation, you dweeb!”

“Aw, doll,” he enunciated, tilting his head in sympathy, “for all we know that constellation is dead already. Your love letters would be older than this.”

You scoffed before rerunning that thought inside your head, your pace slowing down a little.

“I’m sure I’m outliving them by some margin right now,” he added, walking ahead before realising you were not beside him.

Bucky turned around and found you with a lost expression hovering over your face. “Y/N?” he called out your name but all he got was a silent stare that passed through him into some invisible void.

“Call Tony,” you announced to him with a whisper, “now.”

Within seconds Tony was on the other end, wondering what trouble you two were running into.

“The order of the constellation they worshipped,” was all you said into the phone. And like some unspoken arrangement, Bucky heard Tony call Friday to mark the constellation in the sky during the time OWL was created and asked her to mark the translations you had done for him to be lined in that order.

Two minutes of killing silence later, you hear Tony give out a curse.

“What? Did it work? Tony! Did it work?” your trembling voice called out in urgency to him.

“Y/N,” Tony announced, “do you realise you just discovered a new element made by the old-timey folks?”

The amount of air you wanted to take in could not fit into your lungs as your wide eyes locked with Bucky before jumping up in muted joy.

“Good work, kiddo. Banner will love this.”

For the life of you, you could not find it in yourself to stay on your feet as Bucky got infected by your goofy smile before you finally landed in his arms.

“See!” you giggled close to his face as he chucked you up into the air, “I am good at stuff. This time you helped but I am good at stuff!”

Bucky chortled at your words dripping in victory as he swung you around a bit recklessly, making you scream and wrap your arms around his neck in a secure lock.

And to catch your breaths, your foreheads came together to rest in a symphony, your thumping chests marring the air with the heat they were radiating, your wide grins slowly melting into hints of a smile as the heaviness of this tantalization struck your chords.

You took the liberty to move your fingers at the back of Bucky’s neck through his hair while your parting forehead made you bring your lips forward to his in the heat of the moon grazing his glistening pale skin in contrast to his stubble and those heavily painted lips in the colours of morbid curiosity.

 

Suddenly the music started over again in the lawn somewhere in the background unbeknown to the two lost souls that were you and Bucky.

_I know you’re scared of the unknown (-known)_

_You don’t wanna be alone (alone)_

_I know I always come and go (and go)_

_But it’s out of my control_

You wanted a confirmation from him before you could allow yourself to lose your existence in his silver ocean that was anything if not inviting you inside the deep waters.

_And you’ll be left in the dust, unless I stuck by ya_

_You’re a sunflower, I think your love would be too much_

Bucky’s thoughts were a mess as soon as your eyes picked on his pulsating lips. The caged enchanted essence driving itself through the roof at the first whiff of your hot nerves vaporizing your delicious scent. And just as you asked him without any words, he tightened his grip on you, driving your already close body closer to him before meeting your lips.

_Or you’ll be left in the dust, unless I stuck by ya_

_You’re the sunflower, you’re the sunflower, yeah_

The supple clash sent stars all through your body that were exploding as they passed every layer of you.

You and Bucky closed your eyes and got lost in the big bang of your making at the edge of the ocean.


	7. Chapter 7

When was the last time you had experienced floating over the stars as they tried to come closer to your feet but the force holding you in that surreal space didn’t let them touch you?

Today, it was all glittering down inside and around you as your lips tasted Bucky’s heated ones, with one elongated collision before you parted, feeling his thick stubble against your skin.

Bucky’s dilated eyes were nearly on the roll back when he paused at the lack of your delicious warmth.

And without any delay you both came back again; the beast of need inside both of you already ignited.

You took the liberty to let your tongue linger on his lips, taking in the saltiness of the sea from the oysters he had a while ago. Mm, you thought to yourself, definitely tastes good with him wrapped inside them.

Bucky parted his lips to let his tongue taste yours from the tip to the centre, making you feel crude reverberations down to your centre of gravity, your gasped moan dissolving inside his mouth.

The wind from the ocean grew wild, bringing with it the clouds of the storm, hiding away all the stars.

Your aching bodies wanting to further bury into each other’s touch were suddenly soaked with the rain falling over the two of you, not bothering your tongues marking each other as their own, or your hands grasping onto his hair for your dear life or his on your lower back holding you tight, within the confines of his dizzy warmth.

But you both came up from the uncontrollable high once your lungs started giving out, gasping but not letting go of each other.

Bucky finally let your feet touch the wet sand as you took in his blood gushed lips glistening under the raindrops lucky enough to trickle down the entire length of his face before finding their way down his neck and disappearing under the unbuttoned collar, making a path of its own on the body you were really eager to discover right now.

Bucky couldn’t believe the amount of effort he was trying to put to breathe in the image of your wet dress clinging on your body, carving all the stimulated curves through and through.

“Room?”

“Room.”

With one worded breathless exchange and hands intertwined, you two walked away from the beach, nearly breaking into a run as you entered the mansion ground.

Bucky readjusted his jacket over you to hide the results of his provocations before pressing the elevator button and dipping his head towards you to kiss you once more, his hot and cold palms around your waist triggering another spark inside your body.

The sound of the elevator doors opening broke the two of you apart but not before Yukio and Sonic had seen the explicit hunger games play in front of their eyes.

With an exchange of a sheepish smile, you entered the square space, Bucky planting himself behind you, running his hands through his dense wet hair, letting the audience see the fire in his cheeks.

You could feel Yukio’s knowing gleeful eyes on you reflecting from the mirrored walls, making the embarrassment burn further into you, praying that the floor arrived sooner.

And it did, you and Bucky almost power walking your way as you heard a familiar brunt voice call out, “Remember what I taught you, bro.”

You turned towards Bucky who was already shaking his head at the question building up inside you.

“No. I-she just came to me out of nowhere and-”

“Huh,” you cut your flustered berry short, “so you had to be taught that?”

All the white dither disappeared as Bucky opened the door, stepped in, pushed you inside, closed the door behind you and pushed your back into it before he planted his hands on your either side.

Your teasing edge vanished at the sight of that glimmer of voracious beast telling you he didn’t need to be taught to know how to make you whimper in pure velvet.

The radio in your room came to life at the surge of the power fluctuating with the storm outside.

_Darker than the ocean, deeper than the sea_

Bucky’s devouring gaze shifted to a softer one before softly pushing his forehead to yours, tilting it to push up your lips, passing your pulsating, swollen pair with his.

_You got everything, you got what I need_

He looked down, drinking your soft stare with a gulp, his hands dropping away his jacket followed by running his fingers on the satin ribbon he had so artistically placed around you, undoing the soft fabric with one simple tug, letting the rest of the web  undo itself with a scary grace, making way for your skin to let her lull him closer to give her the touch she had been looking forward to, the tiny hairs already standing in anticipation.

_Touch me, you’re electric, babe_

The first contact his lips made with the nape of your neck let all the neurons inside you fire up like the brilliant glittering crackers from last night, their after-effects already oozing in between your legs.

The kiss came with a swirl of a tongue followed by his teeth gently nibbing at your pulsating layer as you pressed yourself against him to feel some friction in between your legs, making him- and his already hard self- grind into you at your greedy movements.

_Move me, take me from this place_

Bucky’s stubble tickled your layers, increasing the hunger filled ache inside you further as it first travelled up your neck till behind your ears, your shivering body reacting by lifting leg and wrapping it around his thigh- his body eagerly complementing the change- before his tongue marked you as it came down for your valleys.

_Movin’ to the tempo, show me what it takes_

_Speedin’ up my heartbeat, playin’ in the face_

“Bucky,” a tremble left you as you anchored your hands in his hair to stop yourself from crumbling as his metal pulled on your dress from behind, allowing him access to your breasts, letting them wake up to the warm wetness spiralling through his tongue; your fingers reflexively pulling his hair as his teeth played with your attentive nipples.

_Kiss me, we’re on fire, babe_

_Love me, take me to outer space_

His metal gazed your back, inching you closer to him now and then before it found the slit through your dress to access your quivering thighs, travelling up a little before pausing. He parted from your breasts, leaving cold sensations at the dearth of his touch.

_Kiss me, we’re on fire, babe_

_Love me, take me to outer space_

You looked him right into his overcast eyes as your hands reached down to guide his to where they were always headed, earning a parting of your lips, a silent pant leaving you with the new touch easing around your folds.

Bucky’s own breath found itself fluttering at the pool of wetness waiting for him, his erratic breaths audible to your sensitive ears.

_Covered in your water and I’m feelin’ like a summer breeze_

Without a warning he backed his metal away to pick you up, turn, take two long strides towards the bed and drop you down on your back.

You could feel his knees dip the bed as he parted your legs to plant himself in between them. You sat up and undid his shirt halfway before he pulled it over his head in one graceful move, planting kisses up your exposed thigh, nibbing and pecking his way to the waterfall, already feeling your breath caught up somewhere inside you as you twitched under his increasing sensitive touch.

_Submitted under power and you brought me to my knees_

Bucky moved away the slit of your dress to carefully pull off your soaked panties.

“I know we’re supposed to be on a honeymoon,” your broken voice found some strength inside her to whisper in the air, “but I really didn’t prepare myself for this down there so-hooo!”

_Use me, you’re electric, babe_

_Move me, take me all the way_

You felt your soul leave your body on his tongue swirling right between your trembling limbs bringing down a rain of fire through your entirety, doing and undoing you, taking you to your high before coming back up to face you in the only light of the striking lightning outside illuminating your features for him.

_Whisper in my ear, I’m the only one you’re lovin’ on_

_Take advantage of the moment, you’re the only one that I want_

You felt his eyes dilate into the similar darkness as the sky outside, bursting with flames of godly fire as you arched your back that came down from a surreal high, his gaze not allowing you to break away from this luscious reality too good to be true.

Your hands felt the life of their own as one grabbed his flesh arm to ground yourself, while your mouth latched onto his to let him savour the aching moans you were not able to keep inside you anymore. The other hands went down to undo his trousers, the years of skilful multitasking of unbuttoning your own stuff while you were busy shuffling through your playlists paying off at the moment, freeing his length and releasing a moan out of him as well.

_Kiss me, we’re on fire, babe_

_Love me, take me to outer space_

Lining himself up at your entrance, he worked his way into you, grunts and heavy gasps filling the hot air around your features- the crystal waters that they were, reflecting the pleasure.

_Kiss me, we’re on fire, babe_

_Love me, take me to outer space_

With the first thrust, the stars came back behind your eyes, your nails grazing Bucky’s bare back, making him twitch inside you, his heated length already pulsating inside your throbbing walls.

The second thrust came in harder, with a feral purpose, never taking his blue away from your face as you put no effort in hiding how he was making your face crinkle in the best ways you could have only imagined.

_Melting like ice on a summer day_

_Hold me like you mean it, take me far away_

The pace increased, coming back for more with a new rhythm, your hips moving up to let him drive himself deeper inside you with every passing stroke, the friction in between the slick walls driving you up to the floodgates faster than before.

And with every rhythm, your fingers clawed deeper into his sculpted back while your teeth docked themselves on his shoulders as the flood waters started rising up to the floodgates, your eyes tearing up at the sensitivity that you’d never felt before.

Bucky felt your nails driving down into him while your legs wrapped themselves around his hips as you got closer to the brim. Bucky’s metal hand went down between the two of you to find your swollen bundle of nerves, the cool digits rubbing the cold hardness into the heated bunch, spiking the rush running down your clenching walls and letting the torrential waters break right through the floodgates.

_Bodies movin’ and temperature rising_

_Take me to the top then watch me fall in_

Your shattering limbs felt length in between them swell as the pace got sloppier and the grunts got heavier, right into your shoulder before he too anchored himself- and marked your shoulder and neck- with his outburst breaking his rocky shores inside you.

_Kiss me, we’re on fire, babe_

The post-bliss high left both of you breathless in each other’s arms. Bucky rested his weight over his metal as he took your face in his hot palm to plant a gulping kiss and take the time in each other’s animalistic scent to normalise the breaths.

Gently parting away from you, Bucky cleaned you up, helping himself and you get out of the mess of your clothes over your bodies showing all the visible signs of lovemaking- already turning into bruises.

_Love me, take me to outer space_

The sound of rain outside your window along with the soothing outro over the radio was working as a perfect balm for your aching limbs and tired eyes filled with a new glow inside them. Your shivering naked form was carefully tucked inside the fluffy blanket, but that was not what your mind was searching for on the bed.

And just then, the familiar warmth wrapped its sublime shape around you; Bucky’s metal pulling you closer towards him under the sheets, allowing you to complement his embrace with your own.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to go on the couch tonight as well?” you whispered as you planted your head on his shoulder, eyes already shut close.

“Nah,” Bucky whispered back but not before planting a soft lingering kiss on your forehead, “I’m in the mood of hearing you snore right here,” earning a smile from you as you buried yourself in his chest, hearing his heart breathe you in while your own opened itself in his solid grasp.

_Kiss me, we’re on fire_


	8. Chapter 8

“Aw come on,” you groaned as the cold metal of the gun pointed at your temple clicked, “my life was just getting better!” before you breathed in a lungful and jumped off the cliff that had nothing but the angry tides crashing into its broken skeleton under it.

_**One hour earlier** _

_When I was older_

_I was a sailor on an open sea_

The sunbeam openly walked in with silent footsteps and pricked your features. The orange under your eyelid got brighter. The warmth around you turned hot. The sea breeze came in on a rushed visit, just moving your hair away from your face as you first opened your eyes from one good sleepy night.

_But now I’m underwater_

_And my skin is paler than it should ever be_

_Hmm_

_My girl finally scored!_ The voice inside your head was jumping to new heights.

You shushed her, trying to figure out where exactly you were this morning, the anxiousness of last two days peeking from the corner and wondering if it could get to squeeze into the bed next to you.

You shifted a little, trying to keep your eyes open and froze. The lingering anxiety ran away on seeing the comparatively placid metal wrapped around your waist under the blanket. The bicep glistened in the rays, bouncing off the ceiling like a happy morning child.

_I’m on my back again_

As if sensing a change in your heartbeat to its presence, the arm drew you closer to the balmy chest spread over your back. Your exposed neck and ear were doused in the hot breath leaving a dopey Bucky’s nostrils. His wild hair burned and bathed your shoulder- where he rested his chin after wiggling a little- as the sun eased itself a little more to slide over to him as well.

_Dreaming of a time and place_

_Where you and I remain the best of friends_

You let go of your breath, easing the first tensed muscle of the morning.

 _It’s Bucky_ , you reassured yourself, a smile creeping over your face.

The radio was still playing in the background, it’s crinkling but soothing music filling the air with a new wave along the languid tides outside.

_Even after all this ends_

_Can we pretend?_

_Well wasn’t this perfect!_

You cocooned in Bucky’s limbs embracing you, his light snores filling up your heart as you recalled last night’s hasty hunger drenched in the thunderstorm, colliding with the walls and making it through the door to let the burning eyes out to play over the skins, the touch, the nerves, the lips, the legs; the entire play making you squeeze your legs together.

And just like that, a stray cat of thought passed by you, pausing all the fluffiness for one second.

_It’s…Bucky._

_I’m on my, I’m on my back again_

_It’s seeming more and more_

The anxiety that you thought had gone away suddenly stood by the edge of your bed, as your mind went to all the time you’d enjoyed bonding with him in this place, the sudden openness from your side, letting him in and telling him about your insecurities.

_Like all we ever do is see how far it bends_

_Before it breaks in half and then_

_We bend it back again_

The devil of anxiety now stared you in your face, it’s head resting in its palms as it heard the shiver go down your body.

_Fuck, it is Bucky._

_When I was older_

_I was a sailor on an open sea_

You suddenly found yourself moving out of his grasp. Your cold body leaving his heated embrace to pick up your dress from the floor and fold it up.

_But now I’m underwater_

_And my skin is paler than it should ever be_

Walking over to the parted bathroom, you stared down at your raw skin showing blue and purple bruises down your neck, over your shoulders, colouring your back as well as inside your legs. The green ones patterned on your arm and hips where you remembered him holding you close with sudden urgency, apologising when you’d gasped at his strength, kissing him fervently between letting him know it was okay. Everything was okay.

_At least that’s what it felt like last night._

_I’m watching movies back to back in black and white, I never_

_Seen anybody do it like I do it any better_

You moved over to the closet to take out a pair of track pants and shirt, pulling them over you mechanically.

Walking out of the bathroom, your eyes instantaneously landed on his figure sprawled under the sheets, with the only reveal being his back and the metal arm- now shining in full glory over the sun that had so perfectly laid itself all over his nakedness.

Grabbing your phone and earphones, opening the door as quietly as you could, you made your way to the elevator to get some air.

_Been goin’ over you, I’m overdue for new endeavours_

_Nobody lonely like I’m lonely and I don’t know whether_

The walk turned into a lazy jog once the thoughts swirled more inside your head, taking the grey spaces inside the hollow left out in the dimness of last night. The musty smell of the sea near a stretched you passed made you scrunch your nose. Every little move you made last night- every little action from the kiss to every satiable moan escaping you on his valid touch.

_You’d really like it in the limelight_

_You’d sympathize with all the bad guys_

_Oh, shi-stop! Don’t don’t don’t_ , you shouted at yourself, your pace increasing with every curse as you shook your head. _Do NOT do this now! Why are you doing this?!_

The anxiety danced around you as your heartbeat quickened, bursting inside your head and neck with furious thumps.

_I’m still a victim in my own right_

_But I’m the villain in my own eyes, yeah_

The sweat breaking on your forehead trickled down, eventually getting into your eye to pinch your vision, making you see nothing but a blur of the green belt right ahead of you. You tried to rub it away but lost your balance and tripped on your own foot.

_When I was older_

A low cry left your lungs before you felt someone break your fall mid-air- a pair of incredibly strong arms lifting you up on your feet.

“Ah, sh-sorry about that. I lost my balance,” you expressed, clearing the blur in your eye by rubbing it away.

The haziness vanished in a second and a pair of grey eyes smiled at you.

_I was a sailor on an open sea_

“It’s alright,” the dead eyes bore their horrid gaze into your soul, sending a cold frost through your veins, “you seem to have left it back in that lab, sweet thing.”

__________

It seemed like such a normal reaction to run away from danger whenever you’d see it in a movie. You encounter something that endangers your life, you run the other way. Easy.

No.

Not that easy.

Your being had frozen at the sight of the man who’d threatened to kill you last time, if not murder you with his gaze. The goosebumps were more like pricks of cold sweat burning you in flames of ice to purify you of his touch that was still lingering on your arms.

And breathing? Forget about it. No, you had actually forgotten how to breathe- your mind associating the hired gun to the fire destroying everything around you.

“I have to say,” Dexter cooed close to you, brushing the little rebellious strands away from your face, his finger leaving a murky sensation over your skin that you wanted to get rid of, “never took you for a girl who’d be enjoying a couple’s retreat when the entire underworld is looking for you and some old relic.”

He smirked at the visible tremble in your lips as you stepped away from him. “And that old grimy paper too, of course.”

Dexter took one calculated step towards you, making your eyes wander to any third person that would be unfortunate enough at the break of the dawn to notice you and this blond baggage of psychotic episode. Considering where you were- a semiotics student on the run from top-notch goons in midst of couples who were just here to have a good time- it seemed more like a stupid wish to make.

Wait.

“Last I checked you were the only one after me and old papers.” You shifted your weight on your legs while turning your hands into fists inside your pants pockets as you inched away from him.

Dexter’s eyes moved all over you, scanning every part of your body as if drinking in all of your weaknesses with that filthy smirk.

He leaned on the tree next to him, moving his hand through his wet hair, letting his unzipped jacket reveal the gun resting near his hips.

“Don’t play coy with me, sweetness. Eton is well aware that Stark knows about the target on your head.” Dexter shifted back to his legs, his jaw twitching for am instance.

“Or are you really on your honeymoon here, you dirty little thing,” he growled, making you flinch at his sudden closeness.

Your body reacted and you tried to jump away from him, only to be grabbed by the arm with blunt force and pushed back towards his figure with fear coursing through your veins.

“You really didn’t know, did you?” Dexter pointed out after studying your horrified features. “Stark never told you about it, huh.”

Of course, he didn’t. And you knew that he had been hiding something from you.

Did Bucky know about this?

Was it their plan all along? To get you as far away as possible from the assassins on your back while you searched for ways to crack the code.

“Stark really knows how to manipulate the best out of people,” Dexter chuckled, his hand never leaving your already bruised arm.

Something small and latent inside you cracked.

Dexter could see a change in your expression. The y/e/c in your eyes darkening at his shallow words.

“Y/N!!”

You jumped at the familiar voice dripping in pure enthusiasm, making Dexter let go of his hold on you as you turned in the direction of her voice.

“I didn’t see you at the after dinner party. I thought you and your husband retired early last night.” The soft concern in her voice jumped more than it did when you were excited.

The h-word made the man standing behind you cut to you, his gaze scraping at the back of your skull.

“Yes,” you nodded, trying to put something close to a smile on your face, “yes, we did.”

Yukio’s giddy glow dimmed down a bit as she stared at your features for a second longer than she usually would.

“Everything okay, Y/N?”

You felt a solid coldness at your lower back, forcing you to steady your nerves and take in a lungful of breath.

“Yes. Everything’s fine. I was just telling this man about the couples only policy of this place. He’s a tourist. Doesn’t know much.”

Yukio finally turned her gaze to the man behind you, her face expressionless.

“Oh!” She smiled out of nowhere, “okay. See you at breakfast!” Walking back towards the mansion with a skip.

_Wait. That’s it?_

You confessed to yourself you were a little hurt at the idea of being left alone with your potential murderer.

“Well, she’s a dumb one,” Dexter implored, taking your arm and pulling you towards the opposite direction. “Come on, we’ve got work to do.”

He pushed you towards a slim trail that went down the estate- a rocky path- most probably the cliffs at the edge of this place.

“Keep walking,” he commanded and kept his hand holding the gun inside his jacket pocket.

The terrain was a little rough under your shoes, making you wonder if Louise would be fine with her perfect pair of jogging shoes being stressed by nature and a gun.

You’re going to die and all you can think about are some borrowed shoes, your voice snapped.

They are borrowed, of course, I’m going to think about them.

“So,” he began, making you let out a spite-filled huff, “husband, huh?”

Silence.

“I hate to be that guy but you really should’ve thought your wedding through before making a widower of your man.”

Nothing.

“Sergeant Barnes is cursed, isn’t he? He dies, comes back as Hydra, nearly kills his bestie, gets slathered with the tag of a terrorist, runs, gets mind controlled, dies again, comes back, blah blah, ends up as an Avenger, finds you, gets hitched, loses y-”

“Who hurt you?”

Your words stop him for a second before he burst into laughter.

“Are you serious right now?”

“Yeah, I am,” you continued with a dead tone, “was it a girl?”

Now the silence came from the other side. The ground beneath your feet felt hard now, the brown dust turning to slate stones.

“She didn’t like the way you looked at her from across the street? Or was it a consistent love letter thing?”

You could not believe the audacity of your self blurting out things you knew too well would lead to a bullet in your head.

“No,” you kept going, “no. You’re less of a love letter guy and more of someone who’d break a nose.”

Your head presented the information Stark had shared with you about him yesterday- though he’d kept a lot of details from you, Tony had mentioned some to make sure you knew what this guy was capable of.

“Or fingers that pushed a wedding band down that girl’s finger.”

You heard him snap as he grabbed and swung you right in his face, his lifeless grey grazing your Y/E/C with the sharpness of a freshly sharpened dagger.

“One more word out of you and I’m going to throw you down this very cliff,” he hissed, breaking all your efforts to get away from him, “but not before I have  that shit piece of paper and broken every bone in your body.”

“You do realise you’ll have to take her back to get the OWL, right?” Bucky’s voice came from the same direction you’d come from.

Dexter was already pointing the gun at your temple while his free arm held you in front of him.

Your muscles finally breathed. Bucky’s blank expression was nothing if not welcoming as he stood there, his hands in loose fists as if waiting for something.

You could see his jaw twitch as Dexter yanked you closer to him, forcing a wince out of you.

“What the fuck took you so long?!” You shouted, not able to restrain the fear that had corroded you from the inside all this while.

Bucky’s expressions were coloured in full offence. “Wha-Well, I’m sorry I didn’t get the memo that I had to save your ass every time you wake up before noon or slept after two at night!”

A tiny gasp left you this time. “Hey!”

“What?” Bucky’s brows were wrinkling at your uncalled shriek, “I thought you won’t be up till at least noon, given what…uh…you know…” he shrugged his shoulders before swinging his hands in the air with he combination of his brooding face, “we did yesterday.”

Dexter cocked his brow tiringly at the two of you, wondering when you two will register his presence again.

“Bucky!” You stressed your whisper, clearly not liking the idea of letting a third person know about your sex life.

“Don’t Bucky me. What’s going on? You barely wake up before eleven and today you suddenly decided it would be a good time to, I don’t know, work out with an assassin?”

You wanted to spew your anger back at him but the concern in his eyes stopped you. He never looked away even as you tried to find the words to tell him.

_Dammit!_

“I was scared.”

The wind blew your words between the shared company before running up the hill.

Your breath shivered as the words passed through you.

“I…I…there was…I didn’t know what this was for you. A one-time thing or…umm…something more. I-oh God-it’s just that I didn’t want to suddenly wake up next to you to find out your expectations were something different than mine last night.”

You drowned Dexter’s groans under the thump of your heartbeat all the while watching Bucky’s confusion shift into a morbid surprise.

“Y/N-”

“It’s okay. You don’t have to-”

“No, listen-”

“Bucky, I said it’s fine. I’m okay with-”

“No, you’re not. Just hear me-”

“No, I’m not ready ju-”

“Oh my God! Would you two shut the fuck up?!!” Dexter roared.

“Zip it, cowboy,” Bucky growled, “we’ve got stuff to resolve. And you,” he turned towards you, his blue burning a brilliant hue, “should listen to someone confessing their feelings for you for at least two seconds! Two! I hope that’s not too much to ask.”

Another groan left Dexter with a whisper of ‘I’m going to kill them both before I get that owl, aren’t I’ while you stood there numb.

“What?” Was all that escaped you.

Every other noise died down. The ocean currents, the birds, the gust of air passing through the leaves in the distance; everything went on mute. Such silence, you could hear music coming out of your earphones handing over your chest.

_Talking_

_Why’s everyone always talking?_

_Noise in my head, but it’s nonsense_

_I can’t feel nothing_

“I would never have gone ahead last night for some one night fling, doll. You are far too precious to me to think of you like that.”

_Guarded_

_Don’t overthink how we started_

_Knew from the second you walked in_

_This could be something_

You let his words seep into you, and the new warm ocean washing over you was the relief of a lifetime that you needed.

“Are you two done?” Dexter sneered, trying to shake you out of the beautiful trance.

Your eyes smiled at the man standing in front of you, full even at that moment.

“Bucky I-”

_Everybody’s looking for a love to start a riot_

_But every time I look in your eyes_

_The world gets quiet_

“One more cheesy line out of your mouths I swear I’ll-”

“-I don’t have the OWL,” you cut through Dexter’s irritation, leaving him and Bucky speechless for a few seconds.

Dexter felt the ground shake beneath his feet a little before he regained his composure; he grey in his eyes turning dark with the rage inside him for you.

You knew what was coming.

Bucky knew it as well.

“Guess you’re of no use to me then,” Dexter declared, pushing you towards the edge of the cliff.

Your eyes didn’t leave Bucky. His squared shoulders and fists at ready as he gave a slight nod towards you, making all the adrenaline rushing through you to comply with his unspoken word.

_So let it go, let it fall, let it fly_

_We’ll keep on trying_

_‘Cause I knew I was in love with you_

_When we sat in silence_

“Aw come on,” you groaned as the cold metal of the gun pointed at your temple clicked, “my life was just getting better!” before you breathed in a lungful and jumped off the cliff that had nothing but the angry tides crashing into its broken skeleton under it.

_Dreaming_

_I’m wide awake while I’m dreaming_

_See in your eyes what you’re thinking_

_So please don’t worry_

The fall down into the devil’s pit of the seaside felt like one elongated moment stretched farther than it should’ve, spiking every hormone inside your body all at once, making you question once- just once- if you’d interpreted the signal right.

_Waiting_

_Know that I’ll always be waiting_

_Do you believe what I’m saying?_

_I’m in no hurry_

You squeezed your eyes close, not wanting to go sploot with a horrendous gaze scaring the hell out of whoever found you down there. And just at the moment, something pushed you with a woosh past the cliff, breaking your gravitational fall.

“I got her! I got her!” A voice boomed through the air slapping your existence.

You opened your eyes to find a pair of strong dark arms holding you close to themselves.

“Wilson?” Your voice barely audible through the air current.

“Hey there, cracker! How you doin’? I owe you a coffee for taking Barnes out in the lab.”

Sam’s cackle nearly drowned the wind thumping on your face as you two ascended above the cliffs, getting a full view of Bucky’s figure smashing his flesh fist into Dexter while a purple lightening of a string pulled away his weapon.

“Yukio?” you whispered to yourself as you watched your mansion-mate bringing the blond down on his knees as if it was her late workout.

Sam gently let you down on your feet on a higher hill.

“What are you doing here?”

“Oh,” Sam almost jumped with joy, “I had to see it with my own eyes how much of discomfort Bucky was going through with my own two eyes!”

You could already see Sonic pushing the handcuffed Dexter away from the trail to a chopper waiting with a man in a black suit and tie for him. He stopped before stepping inside the chopper to turn and look towards your figure in full view standing on the opposite hill.

The fear suddenly erupting because of the grey eyes broke as soon as Bucky’s figure emerged on the trail up to you, his hair being tossed around by the wind while the sun played with his strands.

“So I have a whole list of stuff we could do annoy him with,” Sam blabbered, never really taking in the figure walking towards the two of you, “I have an entire list of stuff that gets on his nerves. Like, have you have seen this guy ar-around…a…spider…”

Sam’s words disappeared just like the chopper on the horizon, taking away the violent threat with it, as he watched you run towards Bucky and stop for a fleeting moment.

_Everybody’s looking for a love to start a riot_

_But every time I look in your eyes_

_The world gets quiet_

“You okay?” Bucky didn’t even let you speak, already scanning you for any injuries and pausing his gaze at the growing bruise on your arm.

“Yeah. I’m…I’m fine,” you responded, tucking your hair back, already feeling the heat in your cheeks.

You wanted to ask him, wanted to let him know. But words were failing you in the moment and you wished he could just read your mind.

“I meant it. All of it,” he finally declared, his fingers grazing your cheeks and making you flush a shade more.

_So let it go, let it fall, let it fly_

_We’ll keep on trying_

_'Cause I knew I was in love with you_

_When we sat in silence_

“And I was scared you wouldn’t jump again.”

You felt your existence shiver as you got on your toes to plant one fervent kiss on his lips.

Behind you, Sam’s jaw dropped for a second as he looked around for any sign of an audience that would tell him what the hell was going on.

Bucky’s hands went down your hips, pulling you close before resting on our back, his lips deepening the kiss, not leaving till he was sure he had you there for real. Your hands went up around his neck, the coldness of your fingers sending delicious shivers down his spine.

You finally parted yourself from him, already feeling the daze of his scent and taste swirling around inside your brain.

“Now why would I not trust you with a fall?”

_'Cause I knew I was in love with you_

_When we sat in silence_

Your giggles filled the air as Bucky kissed your forehead and brought you inside his warm embrace while looking at Sam with a warm smile.

Sam shook his head before smiling. “Yeah,” he spoke in a whisper, “I’m outta here before I decide to throw myself down the cliff,” leaving you and Bucky to bask in the most beautiful view.

“Wait,” Bucky suddenly took your arms in his hands, “where is the OWL?”

“Oh, it’s back at the lab,” you stated matter-of-factly, “inside Banner’s desk. That thing’s indestructible.”


End file.
